The Maximum Ride of Highschool
by maxandfang4ever
Summary: Max and Ella move to Chicago and meet the flock at highschool, they quickly become friends. Future FAX/EGGY/AP. My first fanfic! Please read! T cause I'm paranoid. No wings, and Iggy's not blind! Bad summary, story better than it sounds!
1. FRESHMAN 1

The hot sun beat down on our van as we drove on the highway going from Missouri to Illinois. I still don't want to go! Why won't anybody actually listen to me? Was I ever consulted about this? No. We, my mom, sister Ella and I, were on our way to our new house in Chicago suburbs. Apparently mom, Dr. Valencia Martinez, will be able to have a better job here. Better than the one in St. Louis where I was leaving all my friends, sports and basically life. You catch my drift? I. Don't. Want. To. Go.

"How much longer?" I asked staring out at the grass dying alongside the highway.

"Only another hour or so Max," mom replied. "Hopefully less since there doesn't seem to be too much traffic." Well obviously there's no traffic since no other idiot decides to move their kids to a new house exactly 1 day before school started. I mean what mom wants to ruin their kids life? Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh. I mean besides this whole move thing, she was the best mom in the world.

I just sighed and stared out the window some more. To make matters worse, apparently there is no decent radio station in the middle of effing nowhere.

"Max. Please don't start again. We both know why you can't stay with your father and Ari. It'll be too much trouble, and he really has to focus on his work right now," mom replied patiently. The "we've been over this before, let it go now" look. You know the one.

"I know but still, I just miss all my friends and just my life back in St. Louis," I replied.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry about this sweetie. But your father and I have looked into this, and this is the best option for you and Ella. The highschool is supposed to be great here, I'm excited for both of you to start school and meet new friends."

"Yeah. C'mon Max, this will give you a good chance to make some new friends and forget about Dylan at least," Ella said from the seat beside me. She had been quiet up until now in this conversation.

"Yeah, well I am glad to be away from Dylan. But I just hope there are some decent kids in this place. Guys and girls. And not just for dating reasons either," I said with a smile at the end. Dylan was my ex-boyfriend from St. Louis. I caught him cheating on me with Nicole, a slutty girl that I went to school with before. I dumped him then and there, but I was still glad to be away from him, especially since he kept trying to get me back.

"I'm sure there will be some kids in this school Max. There are like 4,000 kids in the highschool, it's huge!" Ella started with a laugh. "Besides, I guarantee you'll meet all the guys. You're gorgeous!"

I shrugged pushing my brown hair, with a few natural blond streaks in it, over my shoulder so it was out of my face. I really don't think I'm all that pretty really. I don't what Ella sees in me. She on the other hand is gorgeous in my opinion. I absolutely loved her big, soft, brown eyes, and I'm anything but a beauty or fashion expert. "Honestly Ella, you're the pretty one. You're eyes are gorgeous," I told her.

She blushed slightly, "No, like I'm not kidding Max. I've always envied how you look. You have this natural ability to look gorgeous whether you're wearing sweats and t-shirt or on the rare occasion you might wear a dress. You've got great hair, skin, and a great body too."

"Thanks Ells, I still think you are gorgeous though." I noticed mom smile in the rearview mirror back at us. We never got along this good. I guess we were both just a little nervous about this year.

"You are both beautiful girls, and any man out there is lucky to have you," mom said

with a smile looking back at us. "Oh, and before I forget, you're father is coming up in a few weeks with Ari to come visit and make sure everything has worked out."

Jeb, our father is a high-tech-sciency type. He works in a laboratory with some other fancy scientist men and he makes lots of money. The thing is, because he works so much, he is super busy, and can't handle taking care of all of us kids. Because mom's moving because of her job, we had to come with her.

You're probably wondering too about Ari. He's actually my cousin, not my brother. My dad's sister's son. Because my aunt, Ari's mom, recently passed away due to cancer, and his dad is off in the military, my dad offered to adopt him. So he lives with us now, and is basically part of the family. The reason he's staying with Jeb is because a.) he's not close to my mom at all, and b.) Jeb has time to take care of him, and watch him. So basically my mom, Ella and I are gonna live together, and Jeb and Ari are gonna live together.

"Okay," mom began as we pulled into the driveway of the new house, "I set up both your rooms when your father and I came out here last week. You guys can check out your rooms and then look around the rest of the house. Almost everything should be in all the rooms already, thanks to your father. I'll order a pizza, and have it delivered later once we get settled in. I hope you like how I've done everything, if not we can put it as you like it."

"I'm sure they're perfect mom. Thanks so much for doing that," Ella said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

Well it sure pays off having a rich father. Who knew that you could get all of your stuff set up and ready to go before you even see the house?

As I walked up the path to our new house, I took another look at it. Man, was it big! Mom was getting some of her things out of the trunk still, and I followed as Ella opened the heavy, wooden door and stepped into the entryway. We walked around the house together, first the basement, then kitchen, dining room, family room and some other rooms. Then the best part of my whole day, the recording room! I've been singing for a while, just for fun for the most part, but it's something I've wanted to pursue. Ella's passion is for dance, so she went upstairs to start looking around upstairs, but I went into the recording room.

_On the other side of a street I knew,_

_Stood a girl that looked like you._

_I guess that's déjà vu _

_I thought that can't be true cause_

_You moved to West L.A. or New York or Santa Fe or_

_wherever to get away from me._

_Oh but that one night,_

_Was more than just right,_

_I didn't leave you, cause it was all through_

_Oh, I was overwhelmed,_

_And frankly scared as hell,_

_Because I really fell for you._

_Oh I swear to ya,_

_I'll be there for ya._

_This is not a drive by-y-y-y_

_Just a shy-guy looking for a two-ply_

_Hefty bag to hold my love_

_When you move me, _

_Everything is groovy_

_They don't like it sue me, _

_Mmm the way you do me._

_Oh I swear to ya,_

_I'll be there for ya,_

_This is not a drive by._

_On the upside of a downwards spiral,_

_My love to you went viral._

_And I loved you every mile you drove away._

_Oh but that one night,_

_Was still the highlight, _

_I didn't leave you, cause I was all through_

_Oh I was overwhelmed_

_And frankly scared as hell._

_Because I really fell for you._

_Oh I swear to ya,_

_I'll be there for ya._

_This is not a drive by-y-y-y_

_Just a shy-guy looking for a two-ply_

_Hefty bag to hold my love_

_When you move me, _

_Everything is groovy_

_They don't like it sue me, _

_Mmm the way you do me._

_Oh I swear to ya,_

_I'll be there for ya,_

_This is not a drive by._

_Please believe that when I leave,_

_There's nothing up my sleeve but love to you,_

_And a little time to get my head together too._

_On the other side of a street I knew,_

_Stood a girl that looked like you,_

_I guess that's déjà vu _

_Because I thought this can't be true cause_

_Oh I swear to ya,_

_I'll be there for ya._

_This is not a drive by-y-y-y_

_Just a shy-guy looking for a two-ply_

_Hefty bag to hold my love_

_When you move me, _

_Everything is groovy_

_They don't like it sue me, _

_Mmm the way you do me._

_Oh I swear to ya,_

_I'll be there for ya,_

_This is not a drive by._

I smiled as I finished the last line of the song. Drive By is one of my favorite songs, I just love the tune and it's happy and makes me smile. I checked to make sure I had recorded as I walked out to go upstairs and check out the rooms. I saw mom in the kitchen as I passed.

"I did a recording of Drive By, just now in the recording room," I said grinning. She beamed.

"I knew you would love it," she said smiling. "Thank for your father, he installed it and paid for it." I nodded, making a mental note to call him later. I told her I was gonna go check out the upstairs of the house. I climbed the stairs 3 at a time, and met Ella at the top, looking ecstatic.

"Omg! Max! We each have our own bathroom, giant bedroom, huge walk-in closets, and an awesome balcony. It's so so cool!" she shrieked. My face lit up. Balcony? I've always loved just sitting on out old balcony and watching the sky and relaxing. It made me feel like I could fly, something I'd wanted to do since I was little. And now I have my own, I thought as I passed by a grinning Ella and walked down the hall towards my room.

I walked into my room which had my king-sized bent against one wall painted dark blue. Each wall was a different shade of blue, varying from dark blue, to royal blue, to a lighter vibrant teal color. I loved it. My dresser, desk and couch were all there, plus more stuff Jeb felt the need to buy for me. I had to admit, my room kicked butt, not to mention the giant TV by my bed, with the couch and two beanbags. One silver one black, my favorite color combination ever.

"You know we can get those embroidered with your name, and a friend's name. The beanbags," mom said standing in the doorway, gesturing to the beanbags I was standing over. "Whatever you want sweetie." I smiled over at her.

"Thanks mom, everything's awesome!" I told her, truly pleased with how everything had turned out.

"I ordered a pizza. 16", half cheese for me and Ella and half bacon and pepperoni for you. It should be here in 15 minutes," she called from the staircase. I smirked to myself. What other girl eats half of a pepperoni and bacon pizza by herself. Anyone you know? Didn't think so.

I finished looking around the room, and as soon as I heard the doorbell ring and the sudden aroma of pizza filling the air, coming from the below the stairs, I bolted out of my room, and leaped down the stairs 5 at a time. Pizza!

"Fang! C'mon down here for a minute please!"

I hopped off my bed and walked through the hallway and then took the stairs down 2 at a time.

"What's up, mom?" an attractive, boy with long, messy hair asked casually as he walked into the kitchen. He grabbed a chair and pulled it out from under it's normal position under the counter of the island, and sat down.

"Kaylie's coming home from college on Friday!" the woman, Fang's mom, said truly excited. Fang smiled. One of his real smiles. Finally, he thought, I can see her again, it's been so long.

"Is it just her or is she bringing her boyfriend?" Fang asked, hoping she was alone.

"Thankfully, she's leaving him at college. I prefer it that way," Fang's mom, Molly said with a smile at the end.

"Me too," the boy muttered feeling slightly relieved. He didn't care for Jake, his sister's current boyfriend. He was older than she was, and not exactly a good influence. All thoughts flew out of his head though, as the door swung open, and little Angel came trotting in.

"Hi mommy! Hi Fang!" squealed and adorable little girl with blond curls that fell down past her shoulders, and accented her bright blue eyes.

"Hey Angel, how was Gazzy's house?" Mrs. Ride, Fang and Angel's mom asked smiling.

"It was so fun! We played LEGOS and drew pictures! Gazzy is my bestest friend! He drew pictures of things blowing up! He got the idea from Iggy," the little girl said with a giggle. Fang smirked, of course Iggy would give is younger brother bombing ideas at a young age.

"Hey Ange!" Fang said smiling. She came over and gave him a huge hug. "I missed you today." She smiled and looked the ground, she obviously loved Fang a lot.

"Will you read me a story after dinner tonight? When I go to sleep?" Angel asked in her sweet little voice. It was so hard to remember she was only 8 sometimes, and going to be in second grade tomorrow.

Molly looked over lovingly at her two youngest kids, and smiled more when Matt, her husband Mr. Ride walked in.

"Okay, guys. Time to eat!" Molly announced from her spot at the stove, bringing pots and pans over to the table.

I was standing awkwardly alone outside the office doors by myself. Since Ella was a year younger than me, she was at the middle school and I was stuck at the highschool. No other students were in the school yet, so I was the only one. Mom decided that since I'm older, I should me more responsible and mature (which is so not true and she knows it) and dropped me off by myself at the highschool, and she took Ella to the middle school personally to check her in and all that.

I pushed on the glass door, and it swung open easily, and I stepped into the office, which had to women in their 40s about talking on phones and sitting behind desks, with large stacks of papers.

"Hi sweetie, I'm Maggie, the secretary here. What can I do for you?" a nice woman with blond waves, and soft brown eyes asked.

"Hi, I'm Maximum Martinez. I just moved here, and today's my first day, like everyone, but I don't have a schedule or map or know where my locker is."

"Okay dear, I'll get all that," she said as she walked cheerfully over to a set of filing cabinets and started going through the one that had a large 'M' on the front. She handed me my schedule, a map and a slip with my locker on it.

Hmmm, my schedule was:

Homeroom

Math- Frosh H

English- 9H

Music/Choral

LUNCH

Spanish 2 H

Science- Biology H

World Studies

PE/Health

Locker- 1237

Wing- S

"Thank you," I mumbled as I was reading my papers, walking out of the room.

"Anytime. Have a great year," the secretary named Maggie called after me. I studied my map as I attempted to find the south wing.

I had finally found my locker when I heard the sounds of kids walking, talking and laughing with friends on their way to their lockers, then to homeroom. I grabbed some folders, notebooks, binders, and pens and walked towards my homeroom. By the time I had figured out how to get my locker to close and find my way to homeroom, which wasn't very far, but still, everyone else was out of the halls and sitting in desks. I kept walking towards the door, but stopped short of opening it. Taking a few deep breaths, and telling myself to relax I was about to walk into the classroom, when some idiot crashed into me, making me drop my books.

I turned around, and noticed a kid scrambling to grab all his books which had fallen to the ground.

"Shit." His dark head was bent over picking up the supplies, but then he looked up. Okay, so the idiot that ran into me was hot, but still, I'm not gonna let that then proceeded to quickly gather up my books, and hand them up to me, which was really nice. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you and can't believe I totally ran into you," he said in a voice which I found incredibly sexy.

"It's okay, really," I replied, trying to sound nice. I want to at least have a good first impression here. I bent down to get all the books that he had stacked up for me. "Thanks," I muttered as I grabbed everything.

"Maximum Martinez?" he asked confused looking at my name on all the books.

"Yes…" I said in a tone that makes most people freeze.

"Is that your name?" he asked again.

"No, I just happen to have the name of some random person I don't know written all over my stuff. Because that just makes so much sense," I said sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, wrong move. I looked at him again, kind of giving him a look down. No one rolls their eyes at me. "Yes?" I asked again impatient.

"Nothing," he muttered. "So you're new here? I haven't seen you around much." I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I came from St. Louis because my mom's job got transferred here, she's a vet. And I go by Max." He looked me over again, and then held his hand out, and I shook it.

"Well, my name's Nick, but pretty much everyone calls me Fang. I mean like even the teachers call me Fang, and my parents too," he told me. I raised my eyebrows, about to ask why he went by Fang, but I guess he could read my expression. "In 1st grade, we were allowed to dress-up in our Halloween costumes and come to school in them for fun. All the kids came as bumble-bees or Spiderman, but I came as a vampire. I had these huge fake fangs that everyone made fun of me for because they were too big for my mouth, and kept falling out. People started calling me Fang then, and it stuck." I actually laughed, and he smiled at me. Man, does that kid have a nice smile.

"Nick, what are you doing out here? And who's this? Homeroom's nearly finished, you missed announcements and attendance. We'll discuss your reason for being late later," a balding man with a red face said strictly.

"Sorry Mr. Turner, this is Max Martinez. She's new here, she moved from St. Louis," Fang told Mr. Turner smirking slightly at me. I already didn't like Mr. Turner. Something about the way he spoke and looked at me, made him look like a sexist pig. If he was a sexist pig, therefore I hated him. End of story.

He sighed grumpily and looked at me, "Good morning Max. I'm Mr. Turner, and I teach math. Welcome to our school, and you can come to us teachers if you need help finding your classes." Something about the way he said that, made him seem as though he was hoping I would never talk to him again. Great, now he's a sexist pig presumably going through middle-age crisis.

He turned to Fang, "Well Mr. Ride, since you seem to be acquainted with Ms. Martinez, why don't you escort her around today to save me the trouble of doing it myself." I rolled my eyes in disgust, I really hated this man, and his sexist attitude and monotone voice. Fang nodded at Mr. Turner as he walked inside the classroom, and the bell rang, causing students to pour out of all the classrooms, clogging the hallway.

"Well Ms. Martinez, what's your first class?" Fang asked me. He didn't seem annoyed that he had to show me around, but he wasn't exactly jumping with joy either, but smirked at the end of his sentence again.

"First I have Math, Frosh Honors, please don't tell me we have that monotoned, sexist pig as out teacher do we?" This caused Fang to give me a real smile, and he chuckled.

"Thankfully we don't, but we do have to wait for my friend Iggy who I'm sure you'll like just as much as Mr. Turner," he replied playfully. I smirked rolling your eyes.

"Well if he happens to be as sexist as Mr. Turner was, he won't be hanging out with me for long, let me tell you," I replied smiling a little at the end. Fang smirked, and rolled his eyes to. We seemed to have some set language of us smirking and rolling our eyes.

"No, he's cool," he said as a tall blond boy with pale blue eyes walked up to Fang.

"Hey man, what's up? Who's the chick?" the blond boy asked smiling as he looked at me. He had a playful tone, and sounded happy. "Hot chick," I heard him whisper under his breath to Fang, who pretended not to notice. Smart move Fang.

"Hey dude, this is Max Martinez. She's new here, moved from St. Louis, and I'm showing her around today," Fang explained.

"Max, this is my friend Iggy. The one who's in our math class. The sexist pig," he added at the end, and I smiled again. Fang was already starting to fall into the category of people I wanted to consider as friends. He was way different then my first impression of him, and I liked him so far. He was funny and relaxed.

Max was definitely an interesting person, Fang had to admit. She was funny, laid back, not to mention gorgeous, but not a total girly-girl either which he really liked. She was totally different than what he first thought when he saw her standing outside the homeroom door where he crashed into her. Oops. And now he'd been assigned to help her today, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was quickly beginning to become someone he wanted to be friends with.

"Yeah I'm the 'hot chick' Max," she replied coldly looking at Iggy. This was already funny. Now if Max hit him, which he definitely would not put past her, would be highly entertaining and make his day.

"No, I just meant I think you're a highly attractive person," Iggy retorted smirking at the end. Max just rolled her eyes and turned to me.

"How do you put up with him?" she asked.

"Earplugs," he replied teasingly. Iggy playfully punched his shoulder, and Fang shoved him off smirking.

"Well," Iggy informed Max, "He has to put earplugs in because he is just naturally attracted to my voice, and without the earplugs to tune me out, he would be all over me, and that doesn't look too good for Fang here." Max cracked a smile, and Fang decided that she had classified Iggy as okay now too.

"Hello Iggy, Fang, how are you? And who is this young lady you've brought with you?" a woman with kind brown eyes asked smiling at Fang, Iggy and Max.

"According to Fang," Iggy began, "This is Max Martinez, and she's a new student in out math class." Fang and Max both looked at each other and smirked.

"Hi Max," the woman began extending out her hand, which Max took, "I'm Ms. Hughes." Max smiled in acknowledgement.

"Thanks, Fang here has been showing me around today," Max said looking over at her two new friends.

"You made a good choice Max, Fang here will look out after you, and he'll watch you. Don't worry." Max looked a little confused, but just smiled as the three of them walked into the classroom and took seats at a table near the back of the room.

Ms. Hughes walked in the classroom, closed the door and walked to the front of the room. "So today class…" she began as she started the lesson on geometrical figures. The bell rang dismissing them to second period.

"Well Miss Smartypants, where are you off to next?" Iggy asked.

"Hey," Max started jokingly, "You're in honors math too, look who's talking? And I have English 9 Honors now."

"Luckily for you, you have an excellent escort of Fang and myself. We shall deliver you to your classes thought out the day," Iggy said teasingly. I punched his shoulder softly, and Fang smirked.

We walked to English and sat down at a table in the front right corner of the room.

Throughout English Fang and I communicated by a series of expressions and by our eyes. By the end of the two periods, I discovered that Fang generally doesn't talk to other people much, but seems to talk to me a lot. He is really closed off, and doesn't talk to people about personal stuff much, and even though Iggy is his closest friend, he doesn't tell him everything. He also has a hard time showing through his true emotions.

By the time we went to music, we had all become fairly acquainted with each other as Fang and I sat together in a set of desks, because Iggy was in Industrial Arts right now.

However, just as we were about to sit down, a girl with wavy red hair, and piercing green eyes came over smiling. "Hey Fang!" she squealed in a high-pitched flirty voice. I noticed Fang rolled his eyes and look irritated, an expression I hadn't seen him do when talking to me and Iggy.

"Lissa," he said in a flat voice, looking immensely bored and irritated at the same time. Who was this girl? I mean she wasn't exactly wearing clothes that covered her whole body, aka her butt and boobs, and kept twirling her hair in her French manicured fingers.

"So Fang!" she continued enthusiastically, clearly not having noticed me yet. "Why don't you come and sit with me and Kate and Mary? There's plenty of room, and that way you don't have to sit with _her_," she added with negative emphasis on the word _her_ as she glared at me.

Fang looked at her with disgust almost. "Clearly Lissa, if I wanted to sit with you, I would already be sitting there. I don't want to sit with you and Kate and Mary now. And by the way, her is Max, and she is my new friend," Fang said coldly. Lissa glared at me, and I glared back, and her gaze faltered. I have the ultimate death stare, and if looks could kill mine would set people on fire.

"Fine," Lissa muttered darkly as she stalked away.

"Max, how did you do it? You're a miracle worker," Fang said with a smirk pulling out some papers to take notes. I shrugged and took out my notes too, and continued to listen to the teacher ramble on about rhythmic patterns in different types of music. I spaced out for most of the period, except when Fang and I had those rare silent conversations with our eyes. I also noticed Lissa glaring at me because I was sitting with Fang and actually talking to him, since he liked me. It was incredibly entertaining to watch her try to catch his eye from across the room, and every time she did, he would look to me and mouth things, and I had to try so hard not too laugh.

Finally music was over, and we stopped by our lockers to grab our lunch bags, then headed off to lunch with Iggy.


	2. FRESHMAN 2

As we walked into the cafeteria, I overheard Fang telling Iggy about Lissa in music. Iggy looked impressed. "Man, Max. What'd you do to her? Whatever I do never works enough to make her leave." I smirked.

"I have professional skills in the department of getting people to leave. It's a natural talent of mine," I joked. Fang rolled his eyes with a smirk on his face and Iggy laughed.

"Well then it's decided. You are going to hang out with us all the time from now on," Iggy decided grinning.

"Wow. The only reason you want me to hang out with you guys is so I can scare girls away that you two manly men can't do yourself? Tsk, tsk. Don't worry I'll give you lessons," I said smiling. Fang did his little smirk thing again and Iggy was still grinning.

"Pretty much," Iggy replied with a nod.

"Well then, it's decided. You are officially hanging out with us," Fang announced smiling slightly. "Well, what are your afternoon classes? Considering we have all of morning classes together, we probably have some in the afternoon too."

"Spanish 2 Honors, Honors Biology, World Studies and Gym," I announced. I had world studies with Iggy, Spanish and science with Fang, and we all three had gym together. I smiled, happy that I had started to at least make a few friends. And they were cool too. And kinda cute, but that's beside the point.

Throughout the rest of our day, I realized kind of a lot about my two new friends. Iggy was more girl-crazy, but really funny, and laid back. Fang was not girl-crazy, though all the girls were crazy for him. He seemed to like me more than all of them despite that we'd met this morning. He seemed laid back, but I could tell he never really relaxed, and was very closed off. He seemed to be closest to Iggy, but he even didn't tell him lots of things. Maybe I could change that…

"So how was your first day?" Fang asked as we walked from gym together back to our lockers.

"A lot better than I thought actually," I replied with a grin. Fang smiled slightly, but it was gone so fast, I'm not sure it was even there.

"So, where do you live?" he asked comfortably as we had reached our lockers which were ironically next to each other.

"Why, planning on stalking me already?" I asked with a smirk.

"Of course," he replied with a wink.

"Well if that's the case, I live on Arthur St, at 637."

Fang's mouth almost dropped open, and he was making that oh-so-attractive fish out of water face.

"I live right across the street from you. 640 Arthur St," he replied with a slight grin.

"You walking home?" I asked casually.

"Yeah, my mom has to pick up my little sister from her school at the same time we get out. She's 8, second grade," Fang explained as we approached the front doors of the school and pushed them open, emerging into the cool fall air. I nodded.

"I have a sister at the middle school, Ella, she's in 8th grade and my mom's picking her up now too," I explained shivering slightly as a strong gust of chilly wind blew through the trees, making a few leaves fall to the ground.

We began walking down the street, towards our houses. According to Fang it was about a 25 minute walk, which was nice with him and the nice weather.

"So, what do you guys all do around here?" I asked Fang as we continued to walk under big oak trees, on a sidewalk which already had leaves on it, a sign that summer was over and school was starting.

"Well, actually, we have a band. I'm lead guitarist and singer, Iggy plays guitar with me. I have a friend Ben who can sing really well, or play guitar or play drums. He's great though, one of my good friends. But we're actually looking for a female lead singer?" Fang asked looking at me hopefully. "Do you by any chance sing?"

"You want me to be the female lead in your band even though you met me for the first time this morning?" I asked incredulous. He nodded.

"You're not like any other girl in this school. Or even this town," he confessed. "You're the only any of us could stand to have in the band, cause you're actually fun to be around. Well assuming you can sing of course."

"I actually do sing a lot. Like I'm not good at all, but I have a recording room in the basement of my new house," I told him smiling.

"You have a recording room? That's awesome," he said as we kept walking down the sidewalk.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean I'm any good," I replied stubbornly.

"Fine. Then you can sing for me, and I'll decide if you're any good," he announced with a smirk. I rolled my eyes.

"No, I'm not gonna sing for you now. I told you, I'm not good enough." I smirked over at him, and he rolled his eyes.

"Well have you done any recordings in the room yet, that you saved?" he asked.

"Yeah, I did do one last night. I sang Drive By, by Train and it's saved. I guess you could come listen to it. But, I'm forewarning you, it's not that good." Fang smirked, looking happy that he got me.

"Fine. Let's go right now. It's not exactly out of either of our ways to go to your house, since we live across the street from each other," he told me smirking again. Honestly, this kid never smiles.

I rolled my eyes, "Fine." We crossed the street, as I had noticed cars rarely come down our street, and walked up the stone path leading to our house. As I opened the heavy wooden door, I got a text from mom.

Mom: Just picked Ella up from school, taking her to the store.

Me: Okay, I have a friend over

Mom: Okay have fun. I'll be home by 7

I led Fang downstairs to the recording room, and we sat down, and I pulled up the recording from last night on the computer software. As I hooked the speakers up so the quality would be good, I noticed Fang watching me.

"This is so cool Max. I didn't know that you could get a recording room in your house," Fang muttered in awe, as he looked around, taking everything in. I pressed play, and my voice came out clear and sweet, singing Drive By.

The song ended, and Fang looked at me, and held out a hand. "Welcome to the Flock." I looked at him confused, and he continued. "Our band, me, Iggy, and Ben. We call ourselves the Flock, and sometimes we perform downtown, or my dad gets us gigs. Well," he said pausing, "You in?"

"Sure," I said nodding with a small smile, and Fang gave me a real smile. Not his usual smirk, but the special smile he reserves for only when he's really. It really is amazing how much I figured out about him, and him of me, in such a short period of time. "But, I don't know how to play guitar at all. I can only sing…" I admitted.

"That's okay. We have enough guitarists, but I would love to teach you and then you could play too. Iggy's a better bass player. I play electric and acoustic." He nodded as he spoke, and then gave a little half smile.

"You should probably tell the rest of the band that you have a new member," I responded with a laugh. Fang nodded at me, then went to work on my computer. He sent an email to Ben and Iggy with the clip of me singing. He added a message saying he wanted me to be in the band as our new female lead, and that he would teach me guitar. He sent it quickly, then turned back around to face me.

"Now what?" he asked with a smirk. "You going to show me around, or are we just going to awkwardly wait in your basement until one of us kills the other?"

"If your heart so desires to see the rest of my house, then so be it," I said smirking as well. I saved all of our music stuff on the computer, then led Fang upstairs, and showed him the first floor. We walked around for a while, and we just talked about ourselves, and learned more about each other.

Fang has a little sister, Angel and an older sister Kellie. Angel is 8, and Kellie's 19, and coming home from college this weekend to visit them. I told him about Ella and Jeb and St. Louis. We talked for a while more as I showed him the upstairs, and my room with the beanbags.

After we had talked for a while, we decided to watch a movie on the beanbags in my room. The TV was huge, and we had a big bowl of popcorn between us, and we settled in, and pushed the movie we were going to watch, Tower Heist, into the DVD player. Neither of us talked much during the movie, but we did go through 3 bowls of popcorn and some lemonades.

Fang had to admit, he really did like Max as a friend, and she had an incredible voice. He was so excited to tell Iggy and Ben about their newest member, but was also excited for their next gig, Max's first one, and to teach Max guitar. She was just relaxed and easy to be with, and it felt very natural and comfortable between them, even though they hadn't known each other before this morning.

Just as the movie was ending, he heard a car pull into the driveway. He noticed Max get up from her silver beanbag, and he did the same, standing up from the black one next to hers.

A dark gray minivan had pulled into the driveway, and a relatively tan woman with black hair and kind brown eyes stepped out from the drivers side, and a girl about 13 or 14 with lighter hair, and a nice smile stepped out of the passenger's seat. They were both talking and carrying bags as they headed for the front door.

"My mom's home with Ella," Max explained as she headed out of her room, to greet them, with Fang right behind her.

"Okay, cool. You can introduce me," Fang said with his smirk. Max rolled her eyes, but nodded anyway.

"Hi mom," she called as she went down the stairs, "Hey Ells."

"Hi honey, how was your first day?" the woman who looked like an older Max called in reply.

"It was good. I made a friend, Fang. He's here now," Max explained, and Fang went forward to shake the lady's hand.

"Hi Fang is it? How are you?" she asked warmly.

"Hi Mrs. Martinez. I'm good, thanks. I actually live across the street in that brick house over there," he said. "My mom's name is Molly Ride."

"Oh is it really? She walked over here today, and we had coffee and talked for a while." Max rolled her eyes at her mom.

"Well, I'll just walk home now I guess," Fang said looking at Max.

"Okay, well nice meeting you Fang," the woman called as she went into the kitchen to put her groceries away.

"You don't have to go yet," Max said as he walked to the door.

"My mom will be wondering if I don't head home soon. Thanks though. Maybe you can meet Angel tomorrow. Glad you joined our band, we'll start guitar lessons soon," he replied with a wink as he walked outside. Max rolled her eyes, but waved as he walked across the street and into his house.

"He seems nice," mom said as I walked back into the kitchen.

"Yeah he really is. We're already pretty good friends, and I'm friends with Iggy too, but he had to babysit his brother today," I explained as I looked in the pantry in search of food.

"Max! I met this girl names Monique, but she goes by Nudge, and we're already like best friends, and we're going to hang out tomorrow!" Ella squealed, and then proceeded to tell me all about Nudge, and the rest of her day at school.

I got in bed that night, and surprised myself by being excited to go to school tomorrow. I would see Fang and Iggy and meet Ben and Angel. I smiled to myself as I slowly started to drift off.

"Hey," said a vaguely familiar voice from behind me as I proceeded to get my books for the first half of the day.

I smiled, as I turned around to see Fang behind me going to his locker. "Hey, why are you so late?"

"I had to walk Angel to school today because my parents had to do something, so I said I would," he said walking to his locker and getting everything he needed.

"Aren't you a nice big brother then?" I smirked.

"Of course, I mean who wouldn't want me to be their big brother?" he teased.

"Like the entire population of girls at our school, because then they couldn't flirt with you and all that," I said, having noticed already that Fang was the dream-guy of the grade.

He rolled his eyes, which really surprised me. I guess I'm just used to guys being all for the ladies. That's how my old life was, and I'm guessing the rest of the guys here are like that too. "I hate how they try to flirt with me all the time. I mean like they all try to talk to me, and get me to ask them out, but honestly I can't stand any of them. You're the only girl in our grade that I like. You're not all makeup and fashion obsessed and you're not boy crazy either. It's a nice change."

"How do you get along with Iggy then? He seems like such the opposite," I asked as we walked down the hall to homeroom, and then sat down in our desks.

"I don't know, we don't really talk about it much. We aren't like that kind of friends, we're close, but not that much." The bell rang dismissing us and we went to math.

After a week of having lived in Chicago, and having hung out with Fang and Iggy at school, Fang called me on our first Saturday here.

"Hey, wanna come over? We want to have a band practice. Ya know, familiarize you with the guys and practice for our next gig," Fang said anxiously through the phone. We already had formed a close friendship, and I would consider him my best friend here. I had met some other kids here too, but Fang especially (Iggy too) was a really good match for me.

"Sure," I replied with a grin. I loved hanging out with Fang and Iggy and Ben seemed cool too and we would finally start rehearsing. I through on a pair of running shorts and shirt and walked over to his house. It was convenient having your best friend as you neighbor, I thought as I walked up his paved drive, and knocked on his door. His mom, Molly answered right away.

"Hi Max! How are you?" she asked delighted to see me.

"I'm good, how are you? A little tired, glad it's the weekend," I said with a smile. Molly was one of the coolest parents I had ever met. She was nice, funny, laid-back and easy to talk to. Unlike most parents she wasn't awkward at all.

"Aren't we all?" she said more to herself than me, with a sigh. "Well Fang, Iggy and Ben are all down in the basement in the recording/band section. I think Angel's downstairs too, I know Fang's been dieing for you to meet her."

"Thanks," I muttered as I headed for the stairs.

"Max?" a familiar, low voice called out from the darkness.

"Who else?" I muttered with a smirk which was wasted on him considering the darkness. I bet he rolled his eyes, but I can't be sure.

"Hey. Ben's here, and Iggy too," he said, and as I walked farther downstairs it became light again. I looked over, and Fang and a someone I didn't recognize, probably Ben, bent over the guitars tuning them. Iggy was sitting at the drums waving excitedly. Boy, was he hyped up.

"Hi Max!" he yelled from across the room.

"Red Bull?" I asked laughing.

"Monster," said the boy tuning the guitars next to Fang. He was tall, with shaggy brown hair that fell over his eyes, which were a really pretty turquoise color. He was wearing jeans and a skateboarding t-shirt. "I'm Ben by the way. I take it you Max?" he asked with a smile, extending his hand.

"Yeah, that's me," I replied as I reached out and shook his hand. He smiled.

"How'd you know Iggy was all hyped on energy drinks?"

"Well I mean, most people don't act like that this early on a Saturday morning. Well, I guess I can see Iggy doing it…" I trailed off smiling.

He laughed, "That's a good point. Yeah, we gave him a Monster Drink when he got here because you wouldn't have recognized him. He was basically dead."

I nodded and smiled as he went back to tuning guitars with Fang. I had to admit, Fang had good taste in friends. Everyone I had met I had instantly liked, well Iggy had taking some getting used to, but we're friends.

"Oh, Max. I almost forgot. Angel's here, and you've got to meet her," Fang told me and he walked over to the stairs.

"Ange! Come down here for a sec!" he called up in a voice I hadn't heard him use before. I heard footsteps come down the stairs, and a sweet voice called out.

"Coming Fang!" A second later a small girl with perfect blonde curls came bounding down the stairs, bright blue eyes sparkling. Ironically, she was almost the exact opposite looking as Fang, but there was slight resemblance in their face: their cheekbones, nose and chin.

She ran over and gave Ben, Iggy and Fang all hugs. "Hi Ben! Hi Iggy! Who're you?" she asked smiling big, revealing two big gaps where her two front teeth must've been.

"Hi," I said bending down to her height, "I'm Max. I just moved in across the street, and I'm one of Fang's new friends."

"Oh, okay. Hi Max!" she said cheerfully and then threw herself on me in a huge hug. I hugged her back, and her face lit up, it was so cute. I had to hand it to Fang. He had the cutest little sister on the entire planet. No joke, she was adorable.

She went over to Fang, and whispered "I like her," in his ear, and he smiled. His real smile, that he almost never does. I realized that his little sister had this hold on him. She could get him to do what she wanted, he just loved her that much. It was really cute, and who would've thought Angel would have Fang, of all people wrapped around her finger.

Angel went upstairs after sitting with Fang for a few minutes to go to Iggy's house and play with Gazzy, Iggy's younger brother who's the same age.

We decided to practice our music now. Fang and I sang the lead parts, and Fang strummed along on his guitar. Ben sang backup and played guitar, while Iggy played drums. I had to admit, we sounded really good, especially for our first practice ever, well mine at least.

"Our first gig is 2 weeks from today, at 7:00 at Wilder Park. My dad's gonna set the stage up for us in the field," Fang explained as we all started packing up.

"What songs are we gonna play at the gig?" Iggy asked from where he was still sitting at his drum set.

"I don't know," Fang admitted, "I'll think about it for a while, then let you guys know. We have a gig later this year, not til April, that's is against child-abuse, but there's no theme or support in this gig. I'll think about it."

Ben nodded, "Well I gotta go take my sister to gymnastics. See ya guys later. Bye Max."

We all mumbled bye in unison, and smirked.

"Yeah, I have to walk Gazzy to soccer practice soon. My mom got so mad because I forgot to take him last week," Iggy said smirking, "Oops. Bye Fang. Bye Max. You two have fun," he said wiggling his eyebrows and laughing as he ran upstairs.

Fang and I both rolled our eyes at the same time and laughed. "The art show is up in Wilder Park this weekend. They have a bunch of different types of art, and a bunch of food and drinks and it's fun to walk around. I'm taking Angel now, you wanna come with us?" he asked as he finished putting his guitar away.

"Sure, Ella's got plans with Nudge this weekend anyway," I replied with a small smile. Nudge was Ella's new best friend, who had a similar obsession with shopping and makeup and shoes. She was perfect for Ella, and I was happy for her. Ironically enough, Nudge's parents and Fang's parents and Iggy's parents are all friends so all of their kids have been friends since they were little.

Fang nodded and we went upstairs to find Angel.


	3. FRESHMAN 3

Angel walked between us holding our hands and grinning happily as we walked up the dark asphalt path leading up to the show. 'Art in the Park' as they called was a monthly thing, and Fang always took Angel, and she loved it.

"Max? Fang? Can we get cotton candy? Pretty please? I'll share with you guys!" Angel asked excitedly, jumping up and down. She was looking over at a small table set up with a tent that had a few teenagers making pink and blue cotton candy and pointing happily.

"Sure Ange," Fang said smiling. He had that same smile on when he saw Angel earlier. We walked over and ordered 2 large cotton candies. One for Angel, and one for Fang and me.

I pulled a handful of blue, puffy goodness out of the bag and kept walking passing by lots of different kinds of art. There were tents full of paintings, jewelry, clothes and all sorts of stuff. My favorite was the metal stuff to put in your yard, where there was a giant metal spring man that you put into your yard.

We walked around for a while and Fang and I watched Angel stuff her little face in the cotton candy, and look at all the pictures.

"Max! Fang! Look at these! There so pretty! Like the flock!" Angel yelled excitedly. She had ran ahead and was looking at a tent jewelry in it, and we went up to her and looked at what she was so excited about. There were two necklaces, almost identical. They each had a silver chain, and a there was a charm on the chain, a simple feather. It was the perfect size and was simple, yet elegant, and could be worn by either a guy or a girl, which I thought was cool. A second charm was a silver circle and had a letter engraved into it.

"You can get whatever letter you want engraved in it, for additional charge," a woman said from behind the table where the jewelry was laying, and I briefly looked up and nodded.

"Wow Angel, those are really pretty," I whispered. She nodded, and tugged on my hand pointing at a similar one next to it. I smiled, they were really pretty. Fang was looking at the jewelry to, and it looked like he was thinking about something.

"I'll catch up to you two," Fang said looking at me and Angel. "Ange, why don't you show Max the paintings you really liked from last month."

"Okay Fang!" Angel explained cheerfully as she grabbed my hand again, and we started to walk towards the next tent. I turned around and gave Fang a questioning look, but he just rolled his eyes smirking, and went back to looking at the jewelry. Does he have a special someone? I'd find out later, right now I was watching Angel, who I already loved like a little sister.

After about 10 minutes, of wandering from tent to tent, Fang met back up with us.

"Where did you disappear off to?" I asked as we headed back to our houses. It was already 4 in the afternoon, and we were all tired.

"Somewhere," Fang said giving me his little smirk.

"Wow, that is the most helpful thing anyone has ever told me," I said sarcastically holding Angel's hand as we walked across the street.

Fang rolled his eyes, "Who said I was helpful?"

This caused me to roll my eyes, and then we both laughed. We do that a lot, and we're already pretty close friends for having known each other a little over a week. We were both similar to each other, and that made it easy for us to talk.

"Me. I said you're supposed to be helpful," I replied smiling at Angel.

"Well who said I was supposed to listen to you?" he said and threw me a grin.

"Everyone. I'm Maximum Ride. C'mon, who doesn't listen to me?"

"Like our whole English class?" Fang said making me laugh remembering the debate we'd had in English on Thursday. I was the only one disagreed with the statement, when the rest of the class had agreed. I'd made some solid arguments, if I do say so myself.

"Okay, that doesn't count!" I said laughing. Fang smirked, and continued walking.

We walked down our street, and stopped in front of Fang's house, and I said good-bye to Angel.

"Bye Angel!" I said giving her a hug, and a fleeting smile. She grinned back at me, and squeezed me tight.

"Bye Max! I love you!"

"Thanks, Ange. Love you too!" I called smiling. She was the sweetest thing ever, I thought watching as she ran up the steps to her house and went inside.

"She really likes you Max," Fang muttered as we walked down a little further.

"She's adorable," I replied quietly back.

"Yeah she is," he said smiling slightly to himself.

"Well speaking of adorable, my unadorable sister is waiting for me at home," I said and kept walking towards my house.

"Yeah, well you better go. Bye Max," he said with a wave. I waved back, and then we both headed home.

I walked up the steps and went inside. "Hey, I'm home!" I called.

"Hi Max! Ella and I are in the kitchen! How was your day?" mom called as I walked in, and went to the kitchen.

"It was really fun. Fang and I took Angel to 'Art in the Park' down at Wilder Park, and walked around together for a while. How was yours Ella?"

"Absolutely fabulous! Me and Nudge went to the mall and bought a bunch of clothes, and then went to Starbucks and sat and talked! It was great!" she said sighing happily.

"That's great. I'm really glad you found someone like Nudge here. You guys are gonna be best friends," I said smiling.

"Yeah I hope so! I'm sleeping over at her house on Friday night, and we might hang out Tuesday and do homework together," she exclaimed excitedly.

"That's awesome," I said with a grin.

"Yeah, so tell me about your friends!" She said suddenly, and I smiled. By now, mom had left the room to go run the laundry.

"Well there's Fang, and Iggy and Ben. Well and Angel of course, Fang's little sister," I said smiling thinking about today.

"That's great Max! See it's good here!" Ella said happily and I nodded.

"Our band has a gig 2 weeks from Saturday. At Wilder Park at 7 I think," I explained as I grabbed a package of Oreos from the pantry.

"You're in a band!" Ella cried, apparently oblivious of what I had been doing basically all day.

I let out a small laugh, "Yeah I am. The guys I told you about, Fang, Iggy, and Ben, are all in it too. They were in the band before, but Fang and I are already really good friends and he asked me to join and be their new female lead, and I said sure."

"Oh my gosh! Max! That's so awesome! Congrats! Nudge and I are totally gonna come watch you guys play! You singing?" she asked her face glowing.

"Yeah, Fang and I are lead singers, and Fang plays guitar and he's gonna teach me. Iggy plays drums, and Ben plays guitar with Fang and does back-up vocals," I told her. "You should meet them all. I'm sure you'd like them a lot." She nodded looking ecstatic.

"Oh yeah, did you know that Nudge knows Fang? They're friends, and so are there parents!"

"Yeah," I replied with another smile. "All of there parents raised them together and so they're all good friends. Fang said next time they all get together, he's gonna invite us because you and Nudge are friends, and Fang and I are friends, and he said we should hang out sometime. By the way, our band is called the Flock."

"Are you and Fang like really good friends?" Ella asked suddenly with a sly little smile creeping up her face.

"Yeah?" I replied confused. ":Why?"

"Oh I don't know. But I maybe found you a boyfriend," she said wiggling her eyebrows.

"No, c'mon Ella it's not like that. We're just really good friends," I replied sticking my tongue out at her.

"So, how can you be really good friends with a guy already? It's been a week!" she protested loudly crossing her arms over chest smugly.

"Yeah, and we have a bunch of classes together, and I don't know we're just similar and we can tell a lot about the other person without talking about it. You make everything so dramatic and lovey-dovey. Not all guys and girls that are friends are like soul mates Ella," I said smirking. Fang and I? Going out? That's just weird!

"Yeah, sure Max. Whatever you say. But you're eventually going to get together," she said with a smirk. This actually freaked me out a little bit because Ella could usually find ways to hook people up. I made a mental note to talk to Fang about it tomorrow.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will Ella," I said rolling my eyes. I grabbed a few more Oreos out of the package and then put them back in the pantry. "But you have to meet Angel. You'll love her. She's so adorable," I crooned. Ella nodded at me, her mouth full of cookies. I made a face, and she started to laugh, and cookie crumbs came tumbling out of her mouth and down the front of her shirt. I laughed and then walked upstairs to go shower and get ready for bed.

Since it was Sunday, and we were still off of school, lucky me slept in til 11:30. I was in a great mood, but when I went downstairs by great mood was dampened a little bit because of the gray skies and rain pouring from them.

I started to hum Have a Nice Day, by Bon Jovi under my breath as I walked downstairs, still in my shorts, and t-shirt.

"Fang called for you," Ella announced as I walked into the kitchen to eat breakfast.

"What did he say?" I wondered aloud.

"He didn't say much, just that he was looking for Max, and to have her call him when she was up," she explained, then gave me that smug little smirk she gave me last night. I rolled my eyes at her, and grabbed the phone, and punched in Fang's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's Max."

"Good morning sleepyhead," Fang said, and I rolled my eyes.

"I hear you called?"

"Wow, I don't even get a 'Good morning Fang'?" he asked pretending to sound hurt.

"No, you don't deserve it," I said with a laugh.

"Well Miss Sassypants, I did call because I was wondering if you wanted to come over and watch movies in the rain? Well in my house, during the rain, if that makes sense," he said with a chuckle at the end.

"Yeah sure. That sounds good," I said smiling.

"Okay, and you can come over whenever your ready, and then I'll have everyone come over in a little bit and we can introduce you to Gaz and Nudge and Ella can come too. But I'll have them come later, but you can just come over once you're all done primping," he said and I could tell by the tone of his voice he was smirking, wherever he was.

"Yeah, me and my primping," I muttered through the phone. "But I have to go get some clothes on now. I'll be over soon."

'K, bye Max," he said and I hung up.

Ella looked at me, and I raised my eyebrows at her. "Well?" she said looking at me expectantly.

"Well what?" I asked.

"What did he say?" she asked still waiting for an answer.

"I'm going over to his house to watch movies now, and then later today you and Iggy and Nudge and Gazzy and Angel and I think Ben too, are coming over and were all gonna chill and stuff," I explained slowly to her. She gave me a little glare at my tone of voice, but smiled anyway when I told her she was coming over later.

"Okay, thanks Max," she said in a sing-song voice, and skipped away. Her and her split personalities.

Once I was showered and dressed in a pair of jeans, and a sweatshirt I walked over to Fang's house. I used his big brass knocker, and hit it hard against the door a few times. I saw Molly hurry over and open the door.

"Hi Max. Sorry I kept you out in the rain! Fang's upstairs in his room I think," Molly (Fang's mom) said warmly.

"Thanks, and it's no problem, it's not too bad out," I replied with a smile. Fang's mom was so nice. I put my shoes by the door, and then ran upstairs to Fang's room.

"Boo," I said as I walked in, and saw him sitting on his bed.

"Hey," he said looking up from the paper he was holding.

"Watcha doin'?" I asked looking at his paper.

"Nothing, it's just a song I've been working on for the gig, but I'm not really sure about it," he said looking back at it again, humming a tune quietly under his breath.

"Lemme see it," I said coming and sitting next to him on his bed. He handed the sheet over, and I hummed the tune quietly and sang the lyrics to myself in my head.

"This is really good Fang, you should keep working on it," I said looking at him.

He looked up from his lap, "I don't know. Thanks. I've still got to teach you how to play guitar. I want you to be able to play guitar with us in 2 weeks."

"I don't know if I'll be able to learn that much that fast," I said worried.

"It's okay. You'll catch on fast, you're musical as it is. Come on, let's get started, and then we can watch movies with the others and play games and stuff," he said, and headed for the basement and I followed.

Once we were in the basement, he set up the guitars, and I was using his old one. He explained to me about chords, and what each chord was, and what each sounded like. He showed me how to strum and how to play. After about an hour, I had started to pick it up, and could play a few easy songs.

We had been going for about 2 hours, and I was catching on quick, thankfully. We had cleaned almost everything up, and we were putting the last few things away, and then we decided we were going to watch part of a movie, and then call everyone else.

"Thanks, by the way. It's cool being part of your band, and learning guitar and stuff," I said quietly as we sat down together on the couch.

"For what? I need to thank you for joining our band. We've been waiting for a female lead for a while, and then you showed up, and you're perfect for it. You're the only girl any of us could stand to be around," he said as he pushed Forrest Gump into the DVD player. One of my favorite movies of all time, ever.

He paused at the part right after Bubba dies, and I sat up and wiped the tears that had started to form in the corners of my eyes. I'm not much of a crier, well honestly I never really cry, but this movie has always just gotten to me for some reason.

"Life is like a box of chocolates," I started in my best Forrest Gump voice.

"You never know what you're gonna get," Fang finished in his equally bad impression. We both looked at each other, and then cracked up.

"Run Forrest! Run!" we both said at the same time, and started laughing really hard again.

"It's about 3ish now, wanna see if everyone wants to come watch movies, and meet everyone else?" Fang asked me as we calmed down from our little laughing fit. I nodded, afraid that if I spoke I would start laughing again. I noticed Fang and I did that a lot, both thought along similar lines and then start laughing, even though neither of us is that funny.

We went upstairs, raided Fang's pantry of junk food, and carried everything we'd found: chips, soda, candy, pretzels, and chocolate cookies!

"Oh. My. Gosh. These cookies are my favorite! I love chocolate chip!" I squealed.

"I didn't know someone could get so emotional over cookies," Fang said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes. There cookies were good, but none were as good as my mom's homemade cookies. They were the best things in the world, I kid you not!

We were sitting in the basement, when Iggy came bounding down the stairs, as only Iggy can do. Fang and I just smirked from out current spots on the couch.

"Hey Ig," Fang said as Iggy waved in our direction. "Hey Gazzy," Fang said as he got up and went to greet a miniature version of Iggy who had just walked down the steps. He had spiked up blond hair, and pale blue eyes just like Iggy. He also wore the mischievous little grin I had gotten used to seeing on Iggy's face.

"Hi Fang. Is Angel here?" the little blond boy who looked about Angel's age asked. Fang nodded.

"Yeah, she's upstairs. She'll be down in a few minutes. But I want you to meet Max, our new friend," Fang said as he walked over to give Gazzy a hug.

I bent down, "Hey Gazzy. I'm Max," I said smiling at him.

He grinned, "Hi Max! Wanna help me blow something up?"

"Um sure?" I said throwing Iggy a glance, Iggy laughed.

"Not now Gazzy. Some other people are gonna come over, and we're gonna have one of our movie/game days. I'm sure Max would love to blow something up later though," Iggy said smirking at me. I rolled my eyes, but decided to ask why a cute little 8 year old wanted to blow something up.

I was about to ask, but then I heard a shriek from upstairs that sounded just like a sister I happened to have, "Nudge!" she cried, and I grimaced causing Iggy and Fang to laugh.

"Ella!" came a similar sounding high-pitched squeal. "C'mon, let's go downstairs! Fang and Iggy are already downstairs with Gazzy!"

"Okay! Have you met my sister Max?" I heard them talking loudly as they slowly came down the stairs.

"No! I totally want to! Is she like you? Cause that would be so awesome! We could go on shopping sprees like totally every weekend! How fun would that be?" she exclaimed without taking a breath once. Ella laughed.

"Max is definitely not like me, but you'll still love her! She's more sporty and sings, but she hates dressing up and makeup and shoes. Stuff like that," Ella explained giggling at Nudge's downturned face. However her face broke back into a smile as she and Ella reached the bottom of the stairs, and she ran over to me. She had mocha colored skin, gorgeous milk-chocolate colored eyes, and bright white teeth that were broke in a smile.

"Hey Max! Omg! Ella's told me all about you! I'm Nudge, well my real name's Monique, but I mean like what kind of name is that? Gross, right? Well anyway I go by Nudge, and I do competitive dance, with your sister who's like my BFF!" she exclaimed happily giving me a hug. I hugged her back, admiring how she did that entire speech in just one breath. Fang and Iggy smirked at me, and I just rolled my eyes light-heartedly back at them.

"Okay guys! Let's do introductions!" Nudge yelled loudly, getting everyone's attention. Angel had just came downstairs with Ben, and she came over and gave me a huge hug. Ben gave me a wave, and went over to sit with Fang and Iggy.

"Hi Angel," I whispered in her ear, as she sat down on my lap.

"Hi Max! I'm glad you came over again. I like you," she said grinning up at me, revealing her little gap where her two front teeth were still missing. I smiled at her again, and then stood up, holding her hand.

"This is Ella!" she said pointing at Ella and she grinned. I noticed Iggy paying extra attention to her. "That's Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, and Ben," she said as she pointed to each person in turn.

"Hey guys!" Ella said excitedly.

"And well you guys all know Max right?" she asked and they all nodded, Fang with a little smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes again and laughed.

"Movie time!" Gazzy cried. "Can we watch the Incredibles first?" Gazzy asked, "I like Dash! He looks like me, and lots of stuff blows up!" I laughed, and Fang nodded and went to go push the movie into the box. We all situated ourselves, and Ben and Iggy took matching recliners and Ella, Nudge and Angel snuggled up together on the couch. Gazzy laid on the floor, and that left the love seat for me and Fang.

"Scoot over!" I told Fang loudly.

"No," he said simply giving me a smirk, knowing it would make me mad.

"Guys, the movie's starting now! Don't start!" Nudge said pointedly from her seat in between Ella and Angel on the couch. I rolled my eyes, and moved Fang's legs over anyway.

We all settled back, and watched as the Incredible family was made, and then they went to the secret island to defeat 'Buddy' Mr. Incredible's number one fan from years ago. They took out the robot, and we were at the part where they are driving the van back to the city.

Personally, my favorite character is E, the one who makes the super suits. I don't know, she just cracks me up. The same with little baby Jack-Jack. He's awesome!

The movie ended, and the credits started filling the screen. "That was totally awesome!" Gazzy cried imitating the little kid on the tricycle with the bubble gum. We all laughed, as Fang got up to switch movies.

"Can we watch Blind Side now? I love that movie!" Ella and Nudge crooned in unison.

"Sure," we agreed. We watched this movie too, and Fang and I were still in the love seat. I loved the part where Sandra Bullock's character calls Burt, the football coach, in the middle of the game. You go girl!

As this movie ended, Molly brought us down 2 pizzas, and some 6-packs of pop. We all ate, as the movie finished. It was about 7:00 or so, and we decided we would watch one more movie before we called it a night.

We decided on Toy Story 3 to finish out the night. If the two little kids wouldn't have been there, our movie choices would've been way different, but it was still fun being able to hang out with new friends, and actually feel like I belong. I still missed my St. Louis friends a lot, and was still hoping I could move back, but the more I stayed here, the more I realized I like it here. I also realized I was doing what I had said I wouldn't do: I was becoming attached to this place, and the people here.

About 2 hours later, after we had stuffed our faces with pizza, and watched 3 movies, we decided we were all gonna head home.

We all left at the same time, and we all said good-bye to each other.

"Bye Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Ben, Iggy and Fang," I said with a small laugh, "See you guys tomorrow. Homeroom." Fang gave me a quick smile, and I smiled back. I gave a wave, and then Ella and I walked home.

"Hey mom! We're home!" Ella called as we walked inside.

"Hey kids! How was it?" she called from upstairs, as she walked out of her room to see us.

"Good, we watchd the Incredibles, Blind Side and Toy Story 3 because Gazzy and Angel were there. It was good though, I really like everyone," Ella explained. I nodded in agreement.

"I'm going upstairs to shower and get everything ready for tomorrow," I said walking up to my bathroom and turning the shower water on.

About an hour later, I curled up in my bed, and fell asleep, surprisingly looking forward to go to school the next day.


	4. FRESHMAN 4

I hummed the tune to our first song under my breath, and held Fang's guitar in my lap, nervously tuning it. I looked around. No one was here yet, but it was another 45 minutes away.

It was 2 weeks since Fang and I had taken Angel to the park. In other words, it was the night of our first band gig. Fang, Iggy, Ben and I had come to Wilder at 6, to start setting up for our show. Fang, Ben and I were tuning our guitars, as Iggy sat at his drum set, and kept annoyingly clicking his sticks together.

"Iggy," I muttered, and he instantly stopped clicking. "Sorry, I'm just really nervous," I muttered again, shaking my head.

"You'll do great, I promise," he assured me, reading my ming. He nudged my knee with his, and I calmed down a little. He had some way of getting to me, and he understood me on a different level from everyone else. I nodded in thanks, and went back to tuning my guitar.

About half-an-hour later, we had set up the stage, and Fang's dad was helping us finish up everything. The park was slowly starting to fill with people, and it made me feel a little nervous again. Fang placed an arm on my shoulder, and looked right at me.

"Max," he said strongly, but softly. "You'll do fine. Great actually. I know you will."

"It's time," Fang's dad, Michael, whispered, gesturing at us to go on stage. We all nodded, and walked towards the door in back, leading to the stage.

We walked on stage, and everyone erupted in cheers.

"Hey guys! How's everyone doing tonight?" Fang asked, flashing a smile to the crowd. A fake smile though, he didn't give away real smiles that easy. His voice was full of enthusiasm too, and it was unlike the Fang I hung out with almost everyday.

The crowd cheered louder. He shot me a sideways glance, and gave me a real smile, and all the girls went crazy. Did I mention Fang is really hot? And my best friend?

"This is Max. She's the newest member of the Flock!" he said giving the audience another fake smile, and everyone screamed. I smiled nervously, and strummed my guitar quietly.

"Our first song tonight is Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Fang said and everyone went wild.

I had to admit, Fang had an amazing voice as he began the song. I played guitar on this song with him, and I sang with him towards the middle of the song.

_I walk a lonely road,_

_The only one that I have ever known.  
Don't know where it goes_

_But it's up to me and I walk alone. _

_I walk this empty street,_

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. _

_When the city sleeps,_

_And I'm the only one and I walk alone. _

_I walk alone,_

_I walk alone. _

_I walk alone,_

_I walk a…_

_My shadow's the only one that walk's beside me._

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. _

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me. _

_Til then I walk alone. _

_Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Aah-Ah. _

_Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Ah-ah. _

_I'm walking down the line,_

_That divides me somewhere in mind. _

_On the borderline,_

_Of the edge and where I walk alone. _

_Read between the lines,_

_What's fucked up and everything's alright. _

_Check my vital signs,_

_To know I'm still alive, and I walk alone. _

_I walk alone,_

_I walk alone. _

_I walk alone,_

_I walk a…_

_My shadow's the only one that walk's beside me. _

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. _

_Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me.  
Til then I walk alone. _

_Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Aah-Ah. _

_Ah-ah. Ah-ah. Ah-ah. _

_I walk alone, _

_I walk a…_

_I walk this empty street, _

_On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams. _

_When the city sleeps,_

_And I'm the only one and I walk a…_

_My shadow's the only thing that walks beside me. _

_My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. _

_Sometime I wish someone out there will find me. _

_Til then I walk alone…_

He finished strumming the last few notes on his guitar. Everyone erupted in applause, screaming and clapping for us. We all smiled, and I wanted to do a pretend bow, just for fun. Because Fang was such a good guitar teacher, I had mastered the guitar part for all of our songs tonight. We had been doing lessons almost everyday after school, and I'd gotten the hang of it pretty quick.

Our next song, is a song that features mostly me singing. I mean Fang sings a little, but it's meant for a girl role to sing.

I cleared my throat, and adjusted the microphone. I took a deep breath, and then started to strum the guitar.

_If I die young, bury me in satin_

_Lay me down on a bed of roses. _

_Sink me in the river, at dawn. _

_Send me away with the words of a long song. _

_Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on your mother. _

_She'll know I'm safe when she stands under my colors. _

_Oh, and life ain't what you think it ought to be, no. _

_Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby. _

_The sharp knife, of a short life,_

_Well I've had just enough time._

_If I die young, bury me in satin. _

_Lay me down, on a bed of roses.  
Sink me in the river, at dawn. _

_Send me away with words of a love song. _

_The sharp knife, of a short life. _

_Well I've had just enough time. _

_And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom,_

_I'm as green as the ring on my cold little finger. _

_I've never know the loving of a man,_

_But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand. _

_There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever. _

_Who knew forever could be severed by a_

_Sharp knife, of a short life. _

_Well I've had just enough time. _

_So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls. _

_What I never did is done. _

_A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar_

_They're worth so much more after I'm a goner. _

_And maybe then you'll hear the words I've been singing._

_Funny how when you're dead people start listening. _

_If I die young, bury me in satin. _

_Lay me down, on a bed of roses.  
Sink me in the river, at dawn. _

_Send me away with words of a love song. _

_The ballad of a dove,_

_Go with peace and love._

_Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket. _

_Save them for a time when your really gonna need them, oh. _

_The sharp knife, of a short life. _

_Well I've had just enough time. _

_So put on your best, boys,_

_And I'll wear my pearls. _

I finished the song, and looked up with a grin. Everyone was going crazy, and the applause was almost deafening. I looked over to Fang and he winked, and gave me his real grin again.

"Let's give it up for Max again!" he said and clapped really loud, and I rolled eyes. That little butt-hole knew I hated being complimented and being applauded was really the same thing. "Our next song tonight is Lucky, by Jason Mraz and Colby Caillat.

_Boy I hear you in my dreams, _

_I feel your whisper across the sea._

_I keep you with me in my heart_

_You make it easier when life gets hard. _

_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend, _

_Lucky to have been where I have been, _

_Lucky to be coming home again._

_Ooh ooh ooh._

_They don't know how long it takes_

_Waiting for a love like this_

_Every time we say goodbye_

_I wish we had one more kiss_

_I'll wait for you I promise you, I will._

_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend,_

_Lucky to have been where I have been. _

_Lucky to be coming home agiain._

_Lucky we're in love in every way_

_Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed. _

_Lucky to be coming home someday. _

_And so I'm sailing through the seas,_

_To an island where we'll meet_

_You'll hear the music fill the air_

_I'll put a flower in your hair. _

_Through the breezes through the tress._

_Move so pretty you're all I see. _

_As the world keeps spinning 'round, _

_You hold me right here, right now. _

_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend,_

_Lucky to have been where I have been_

_Lucky to be coming home again. _

_I'm lucky we're in love in every way. _

_Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed_

_Lucky to be coming home someday. _

_Ooh ooh ooh. _

_Ooh ooh ooh ooh. _

I breathed out as we finished out third song of the night. We had one more to go, and it was my favorite. I had wanted to sing Summer Nights from Grease, I thought that would be hilarious, but I had been out voted. I could just picture Iggy singing "Tell me more! Tell me more! Did you get very far?" in a low voice. I smirked, and then got ready for out last song of the night. You'll just have to wait until we sing it to find out what it is.

"Hey guys! We got one more song for you tonight!" Fang said giving out more of his fake smiles, which killed the crowd. I spotted Lissa in the back with her posse of sluts. They were in tight, super-short jean shorts, and shirts that they cut the sleeves off of so they had holes in the side. She kept giving Fang flirtatious looks, which he ignored, and so I glared at her, and she backed off. I rolled my eyes at her, and she set her mouth in a scowl.

"Our last song for tonight is Hey There Delilah, by the Plain White T's." Everyone erupted in cheers, and Fang and I started our part on guitar.

_Hey there Delilah, what's it like in New York City?_

_I'm a thousand miles away, _

_But girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do. _

_Times Square can't shine as bright you, I swear it's true. _

_Hey there Delilah, don't you worry bout the distance,_

_I'll be right here if you get lonely, give this song another listen,_

_Close your eyes, listen to my voice, it's my disguise. _

_I'm by your side. _

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_What you do to me. _

_Hey there Delilah, I know times are getting hard,_

_But just believe me girl, someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar. _

_We'll have it good, we'll have the life we knew we would. _

_My word is good. _

_Hey there Delilah, I've got so much left to say,_

_If every simple song I wrote to you, _

_Would take your breath away, I'd write it all. _

_Even more in love with me, you'd fall. We'd have it all. _

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_A thousand miles seems pretty far, _

_But they've got planes and trains and cars, _

_And I'd walk to you if I had no other way. _

_Our friends would all make fun of us,_

_And we'd just laugh along because,_

_We know none of them have felt this way. _

_Delilah I can promise you, _

_That by the time that we are through,_

_The world will never ever be the same,_

_And you're to blame. _

_Hey there Delilah, _

_You be good and don't you miss me. _

_Two more years and I'll be done with school,_

_And we'll be making history, like I do. _

_You'll know it's all because of you. _

_We can do whatever we want to,_

_Hey there Delilah here's to you,_

_This one's for you. _

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_Oh, it's what you do to me._

_What you do to me. _

Fang finished the last line, took a breath, and then looked up from his guitar. His voice was absolutely perfect for this song, and I loved it. After people started to leave the park, we cleared the stage, and put everything away.

"Guys, that was awesome," Michael called to us, giving us a thumbs up as he helped get Iggy's drum set into the van. 

"Yeah, good job Max. You did really good for your first show," Ben said giving me a high-five.

"For my first show? What's that supposed to mean?" I teased.

Ben gave me a playful shove, "You know what I mean," he said rolling his eyes at the end. I have laughed as I walked between Fang and Ben on our way to the car. Iggy was still helping get his drum set into the van.

"Wanna go get ice cream?" Iggy asked as we all approached him and Michael.

"Sure," I said, and my two male friends nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like a good plan. Fang, I'll drop you off, and then call me when your done and I'll come pick you all up," Michael said agreeably driving out of the parking lot.

We pulled up on the street next to Dairy Queen, and piled out.

We stood in line, and Iggy ordered first.

"I'll have a caramel waffle bowl sundae," he told the lady on the other side, and then paid and stood to the side so we could order.

"I'll have a medium Cookie Dough Blizzard," Ben said as he paid, and then moved over.

"I'll have an Oreo Brownie Earthquake," me and Fang said at the same time. We looked at each other and cracked up.

"So is that two Oreo Brownie Earthquakes then?" the lady asked confused looking at us. Fang nodded, and pulled out his wallet to pay.

"I'm paying," Fang decided, and I just looked at him.

"No way. I'm paying for both of ours," I said giving him a steely look.

"No," he said simply, an handed over his money before I had a chance. I glared at him, and he smirked at me.

"You're the only girl in our grade who would ever think about ordering that," Iggy said with a laugh.

"Well don't hold your breath," I said smirking.

"He's right though. All the girls would be all over the fat-free and light ice cream, but your all over the like mega-calories," Ben said chuckling.

"And that's why you love me," I said giving a fake grin.

"Sure Max," Iggy said trailing off. I rolled my eyes, and lightly shoved him, and he dramatically crashed into Fang who was standing behind him. Fang just rolled his eyes, and gave me a look and I smiled. Who knew buying ice cream could be so entertaining?

Once we were all done with our ice cream, Fang called his dad, and he came and picked us up. "Do you want to all come over to our house?" Mr. Ride asked as we drove back towards our houses.

"I can't, I have to babysit Gazzy," Iggy said with a sly smile. Oh God, I don't want to know what he's up to.

"Same, it's my parents anniversary tonight, and I have to watch Kaite," Ben said, talking about his sister who was 3.

"Max," Fang asked, "You coming?"

"Sure," I said calling mom to let her know the plan. She agreed, and wanted to know hot the concert was when I got back.

I went over to Fang's house again, and we just laid on his bed and talked, and we watched TV and movies, and listened to music for a while. I like hanging out with him where I could just be myself, and relax.

We hung out til about 11:30 when I was about to go home, but then my mom just told me to spend the night there. It was practically my second house anyway. She knew Fang really well, considering he was over at our house, or I was at his almost everyday after school to work on homework.

"Why don't you just spend the night?" Fang asked, as I got off the phone with my mom.

"You sure?" I asked looking around, "I don't have any clothes to wear to bed."

"Here," he said tossing me a black shirt that was almost a dress on me, and I found a pair of running shorts in my bag, and changed into them. The shirt I was wearing smelt like Fang.

"Where do you want to sleep?" Fang asked me, as I was about the same question.

"I don't care, do you have like an air mattress or something?" I asked.

"Sure, but I mean we can like both sleep in my bed, we're not gonna do anything," Fang said smirking. I rolled my eyes, but nodded in agreement.

"Sure, that's fine."

We were laying on Fang's king-size bed, Fang and I each on our own side, but laying next to each other watching movies. We watched the Avengers, and the Hunger Games and it was about 3 o'clock when we both fell asleep, towards the end of Hunger Games.

I woke up, surprised to find myself laying against Fang, and his arms gently on me. He was still asleep, and I was about to close my eyes to try to sleep again, when I changed my mind. It would be way more fun to wake him up now. I snickered to myself, knowing his weakness.

I braced myself for the attack, and then BAM! I started tickling his feet like crazy. He instantly woke up and started thrashing around laughing. "Max!" he laughed, gasping for breath. "Stop! Please!" I shook my head, and went back to tickling his feet. Iggy had told me a few days ago that his feet were his biggest weakness, and had done a hands-on demonstration at his house of how to tickle Fang's feet. As entertaining as it had been, he eventually had to let Fang breathe.

"Please!" he gasped looking at me half amused, half desperate. "I'll do anything! Well, maybe," he tried. Hmm, that sounded like a decent offer.

"Fine. I'll let you go," I decided adding a dramatic pause for affect, "if you make me homemade chocolate cookies from scratch. By yourself."

"Yes of course your royal Maxness. Just please let go!" he cried his eyes tearing up from his crazed laughing attack.

I sighed, and let go of his feet, and he quickly recomposed himself to his unlaughing, unsmiling Fang. We walked downstairs, and Molly, a fantastic cook, had prepared chocolate chip pancakes, juice, and lots of fresh fruit all at the table, as we walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, Fang. Morning, Max," his mom said with a yawn, as if it were the most normal thing for me to be here after sleeping with her son. Well not like that, we all know that, but still. We're almost 15.

"Morning mom," Fang said stifling a yawn as he reached for pancakes and juice. I loaded up with food, and then dug in.

"Morning Molly. Thanks for all this food and for everything," I said as I was about to start eating. Yeah, even I know it's bad manners to talk with your mouth full. See, I have some table etiquette, I thought, just as my elbows found themselves a comfortable position resting on the table.

"It's not a problem at all Max," she replied sincerely going over to flip some more pancakes.

"These really are delicious," I said aloud. Not to anyone in particular, or for any reason. Just stating the facts.

"Thanks dear, it's a new recipe I found," Molly replied with a warm smile.

"Yeah, these are really good ones mom," Fang replied his mouth full of food. It came out sounding more like 'eah, ese are lly ood ones mom.' Fang can come to my Rules of Max Etiquette. Molly smiled, and took a sip of her coffee.

Once we finished eating, since it was really nice out, we decided to go play some hoops outside. Surprisingly, both of us are natural athletes, and were having some pretty heated games, most of which he won, but whatever. I was going to win P-I-G. And, I bet he cheated, I mean because like I just don't lose. We played PIG and some more basketball competitions for a while until we got bored of that, and then kicked a soccer ball around in his backyard.

We went inside for lunch and had grilled cheese, and tomato soup which was delicious. Once we were full, we decided to walk to Wilder Park, and hang out there. Our plan was to bring Angel too, but just as we were leaving Maria, a friend from school, called and wanted her to come have a fashion contest, and it was mandatory she attended.


	5. AN

**A/N Hey guys, I'm so sorry it's been taking me so long to update. School's almost out, and when it's summer I'll be able to update way more! I graduate on Thursday, so I won't be able to write for a few days because I'm going out of town this weekend for volleyball too! **

**Also, any ideas on what should happen in the story? I'm going to continue all the way through senior year of higschool for the flock, so any ideas? Suggestions? Please RnR so I have some ideas! I have like a mini writers block! Thanks! Sorry!**


	6. FRESHMAN 5

**A/N: Sorry it's taken so long for this update. I've been super busy with summer school finals and class. We also had a really bad storm here and every where's out of power and I haven't had Wifi to publish this or charge my laptop. Sorry! If I get 15 reviews I'll make the next couple chapters extra long. Please RnR! Thanks! **

We decided we were gonna go uptown and hang out or something. Get ice cream. Maybe see a movie. Go to Walgreens! In case you were unaware, I could practically live in Walgreens. It's the best store in the entire world!

"Max…" I was now aware that Fang had said my name 3 times by now and I was spacing out fantasizing about Walgreens.

"Sorry, huh?" I kicked a bunch of dead leaves that were orange as we walked down the cracking sidewalk.

"Iggy texted me and wanted to know if the you, me and Ella wanted to go uptown with him and Ben. They said we should go get lunch and then see a movie. Whatcha think?" Fang asked slipping his phone into his back pocket.

"Sure, sounds good. I'll call Ella. Is it okay if Nudge comes too? I think they were hanging out today," I pulled out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found Ella. She put her self into my phone as 'Ella Dearest, Your Favorite Person In the World!:)' and I hadn't had time to change it yet. Fang just nodded in agreement with Nudge tagging along as I listened as I was connected.

"Hey Max!" Ella chirped.

"Hey, Fang, Iggy, Ben and I are going uptown to grab lunch and go see a movie. You coming? You can bring Nudge too, don't worry,"

"Yes! Nudge and I are bored out of our minds! I'll have mom drop us off! When and where?" I heard Nudge stifle a shriek of excitement in the background. Oh Nudge, ever the excited for such simple stuff.

I put the phone on my shoulder to dampen the sound. "There both coming and are gonna have my mom drop them off. Where we gonna eat lunch?" I asked Fang.

"Umm…Chipotle?"

"Meet us at Chipotle in 15 minutes."

"Okay! Thanks Max! Oh, and Nudge says hi!"

"Yeah, tell her we say hi back. Talk to you later," I said as we crossed the street and put my phone in the other pocket from my money.

When we got to the railroad tracks, I saw Iggy jumping up and down and waving dramatically and Fang and I, and Ben was next to him trying to ask people to help take care of his "different" friend. I laughed, and Fang chuckled, "Iggy, you're girlfriend's coming!" Fang yelled from where we were. Iggy instantly stopped jumping and went red. Then he happily turned around and flicked Fang off, and I cracked up.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Iggy hollered, as we came closer.

"Almost-to-be girlfriend," Fang said, not shouting anymore because we were close enough to them to talk at a normal level.

"Excuse me? What is all this talk about my sister? Not that anyone would go out with her," I said jokingly and they cracked a smile.

"Iggy has crush on Ella!" Ben exclaimed filling me in. Ahhh. That would make sense. I saw them totally staring at each other and blushing when we were at Fang's house the other day. I nodded with a smile.

"I totally see it, Igs. And don't worry I approve of you so you don't have to go through my training session," I announced patting Iggy on the shoulder, hand his face went an even darker shade of red. Ben was practically on the floor with laughter, and Fang chuckled softly. He's not really a big one for showing emotions.

"So Iggy, when you gonna make you move?" Fang walked over and sat down on one of the benches surrounding the square by where we were all standing.

Iggy glared at him, it was intense if I do say so myself, however I have just about the meanest glare ever. Ask anyone. "I told you, we're just friends." That caused Fang and Ben both to stifle laughter and I smirked.

"You are such a bad liar Iggy," I said walking over to sit on the bench next to Fang.

"Me? You're the ones in love. You and Fang," he said pointing at the two of us and making a heart with his hands. Fang and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. I never really thought about liking Fang that way. I mean, I can't deny that he's super attractive, but still. He's my best friend, it's just weird.

I did a slow, artificial, drawn out chuckle for dramatic effect, "Iggy…not happening. We're the ones who are just friends."

He rolled his eyes, "It's so obvious. You guys already like each other and are too immature to admit your feelings to the rest of the world."

"You want me to admit my feelings?" I asked laughing and Iggy promptly nodded. "Well, once you put it that way…I have to pee so freakin bad can I go find a bathroom? Please!" I wasn't kidding. I hadn't gone since forever ago and I was gonna burst. Fang cracked a smile, and Ben stifled back more laughter.

Iggy just looked confused. "Huh?"

"She. Has. To. Take. A. Piss." Ben said slowly annunciating every word and syllable to make it easily understood. Iggy rolled his eyes at Ben and gave him a lighthearted glare.

"I wasn't kidding! I gotta go!" I almost cried. I stood up doing one of those awkward 'I gotta pee' dances, that little kids normally do.

Just as I stood up, a silver Audi S7 drove up, and two highly talkative girls, I knew very well, got out.

"Max! Fang! Iggy! Ben!" the first one out with crazy brown hair and gorgeous smile squealed. She ran over and gave me a huge hug.

"Hi Nudge!" Oh man, I was gonna explode. Fang noticed my expression and smirked.

"Iggy! Fang! Ben! Max!" another voice yelled as she got out of the car. This one had less-crazy hair, but the same gorgeous smile. This one was my sister. Fang, Ben and I exchanged glances as she ran over and gave Iggy a hug first. Maybe there was something going on between them.

"I hate to interrupt this lovely gathering," Iggy said with fake sincerity to Nudge and Ella who were going around hugging everyone, "but frankly, I think Max is gonna pee her pants if we don't find her a toilet in the next 30 seconds." I mouthed 'thank you' to him and he just laughed. 'I really had to go too' he mouthed back and I laughed. We walked inside the door to Chipotle, and were hit with all the delicious smells of cooking Mexican food. I made a mad dash for the bathroom, and came back out and joined the others in line once I was finished.

"Better?" Fang asked smirking, and I nodded vigorously. "What are you gonna get?"

"Steak tacos!" Steak had always been my favorite food and I hadn't had any in a while, and I was totally craving some.

Fang smirked, "I'm getting the same thing I think, but the spicy kind." I nodded, but made a face when he said spicy.

"I hate spicy food!" I exclaimed.

"How?" Fang asked in apparent shock, "don't tell Iggy. He's crazy for anything spicy. He puts Tabasco Sauce on anything and everything. And even I think that's gross." I watched as Iggy and Ella stood in line together talking, and I noticed Ben and Nudge were together too, and that left me and Fang. But I meant what I said before, Fang and I were just friends, and I figure we always would be. Not that he has cooties or anything, just that I can't see him as anything else than a best friend.

"Is there really something going on between Iggy and Ella?" I asked having been wondering for a while now anyway. We'd been here for about 2 months, and we had one other gig last week. Fang had been teaching me guitar after school a few days a week, and we normally got together to do homework before or after. And on every Tuesday, we all met at the library and worked on homework and projects and stuff. I've been learning really fast, and Fang thinks I'm really good, but I don't think I'll ever be as good as him. I've been borrowing his old guitar for the time being, but I want my own, so I'll have to start making some money.

"I'm not positive, but I know Iggy likes her, and he isn't sure if Ella likes him the same way or just as friends. He might ask her out later in the year or something, but he doesn't want to ruin the whole flock's friendships, if it became awkward between him and Ella," Fang explained leaning against the wall. I nodded.

"I'm pretty sure Ella has a crush on Iggy too, but I wouldn't want to rush anything. I'll talk to her about it sometime, it's not like we don't live together," I said with a smirk at the end. "What about Ben and Nudge?"

"What about them?" he replied getting up to walk forward, since the line was moving up.

"Are they the same way? Like do they like each other in that way, or are they just friends?" I asked. I'd been wondering if there was something going on between them too, like Iggy and Ella.

"No. Nudge likes a guy named Blake.. He's really good at basketball and baseball and sports in general, and he's smart and nice. He's a good guy, I know him," he explained.

"Okay, does Ben like Nudge though? I mean cause there always standing together."

"No. You know Lexi? Dark brown hair, green eyes, freckles, really good athlete?" Fang moved up to place his order. "Can I have 5 spicy steak tacos with lettuce, pico de gallo, cheese, no sour cream, and the hottest salsa. And a bag of chips and a drink." The lady across the counter nodded and put the order into the cash register. "We'll share chips," he muttered to me under his breath.

"Pay at the far end register." The lady told Fang, then moved onto me, "Can I help you miss?"

"Yes please. Can I have 4 steak tacos with cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, a tiny bit of sour cream, and the mild salsa, and a soft drink please," I asked politely.

She nodded and repeated, "Pay at the far end register." I nodded and walked back to the line at the other end.

Standing next to Fang again I nodded, "Yeah I know her."

"Yeah well he's liked her forever, since like 6th grade when they started school together. He finally got the nerve to talk to her last year, and now they're really close friends. Like hey hang out all the time. I'm not sure if she likes him, but he's like in love with her," he explained to me.

"Aww, that's so cute! What's he do? Like why do you think he's in love with her?" I asked smiling.

"Cute?" he asked first, and I rolled my eyes, "And well he texts her so much, and sends her all these sweet messages, and he talks about her like she's an angel. He's always talking to, or about her, but in a good way. He changed for her too."

"Changed?" That was really sweet of him though, I hope he ended up getting her because he seemed like a great guy for her.

"Yeah, well he hung out with the wrong crowd of people, like all the druggies, and skater guys, but then once he started talking to her, she told him she didn't like his friends and all them, and so he met us. But he never did anything bad, just hung out with them, then he met Iggy and now he's with us. He's an amazing musician."

"Is there any reason he and Nudge are together so much?"

"Well, for one Iggy and Ella are always together, you and me are always together, and there like the other two left, so they go together. And when they were raised as kids, Ben's dad died and he and Nudge grew really close because she knew him and we didn't, so she helped him through all of that. So they're just good friends now, and Nudge's friends with Lexi from something, and he's trying to get more ways to get Lexi to like him," He explained, and then went up to pay and grab his food. Oh, so Ben likes Lexi, Nudge likes Blake, Ella and Iggy like each other, and then there's me and Fang.

"$9.84," the other cashier said, "Here's your food."

I grabbed my food, "Thanks," and went to go fill up my drink.

Fang and I were the last in line and we saw a table in the back where Ella, Nudge, Iggy and Ben were all sitting. Fang and I walked over and took the two remaining seats next to each other in the booth. Everyone else had been eating for a while, and Fang and I both dug in.

"What movie are we seeing?" Nudge asked since she was already finished.

"Avengers," Iggy said.

"People Like Us," Ella chimed in.

"Rock of Ages," I announced.

"Avengers is awesome," Ben added. "Lexi and I saw it right when it came out. So good."

"Avengers," Fang said taking a sip of his pop.

"Well that leaves it 3 out of 6 which is half of us. We are a democracy, so let's go. Avengers it is," Iggy got up to go throw out his garbage, and got another refill on his Dr. Pepper. "Besides Max, Rock of Ages doesn't come out til later anyway."

I sighed, "Fine. I guess Avengers is fine. But we're all going to see Rock of Ages when it comes out. Midnight premier baby!"

"I love rock 'n roll!" Ella and Nudge sang.

"So put another dime in the juke box baby!" I sang loudly causing stares from surrounding tables.

"I love rock 'n roll!" Fang, Ben and Iggy sang back.

"So come take your time, and come dance with me!" I sang again, this time getting up to throw my stuff away.

"You guys, I absolutely love 80s music! Foreigner, Journey all of that stuff is so great!"

"Agreed. Maybe I can convince my dad to let us do an all 80s gig. That'd be pretty cool."

"Yeah, and then we can be like the Sound of Music. Fantastic," Iggy spread his arms wide and pretended to skip through a meadow. "The hills are alive, with the sound of music!"

"Right, Iggy. Because that would definitely happen. I'm sure you'll have great luck dressing us all up in curtains." We left Chipotle and were walking across the street

to the Classic Cinemas, theatre.

"6 tickets to Avengers please," I walked up and bought all of our tickets.

"$36, theatre number 8. To your right." The young girl behind the counter said handing over 6 tickets. We walked over to buy more food.

Iggy and Ben split a popcorn, and each got Icees. Ella and Nudge split an Icee, a popcorn and a box of Junior Mints. Fang and I each got Icees, split a popcorn and split a box of Swedish Fish.

We made our way to our designated theatre, and found an empty row and made our way to the middle. The seating was: Nudge, Ella, Iggy, Ben, Fang, Max .We got comfortable, and then the lights dimmed, and the movie started. At the beginning, I was so confused, but as it went on, I started to piece it together. The guy stole this powerful thing and hijacked a bunch of the workers to be able to work it so he could get his bad guy army into Earth. But one of the guys in charge of it escaped, and he found some super heroes (the Avengers) to get it back . Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor. But at the beginning they were all fighting, and trying to get all the glory, but then at the end they started to work together. They finally defeated the bad guy, and sent the thing back with Thor to the other galaxy. But there was a ton of fighting and it was really good.

After 2 hours of sitting through the movie, we all got up and stretched and headed out of the theatre. We saw more previews for Rock of Ages! It comes out November 12, 2012. It was decided. I was coming to the midnight premier, and I didn't care if anyone came with me, but I wanted to see it so bad!

"I think Captain America was by far the cutest one," Nudge said talking to Ella, Nudge and Iggy.

"Yeah he was really cute! But Thor was pretty cute too, with that giant hammer," Ella squealed.

"Whether he was cute or not doesn't decide who was the best of the Avengers," Iggy argued back.

"Yeah, Iron Man was the best. He can fly, he has armor and he's super strong. Why wouldn't he be the best?" Ben shot back to the girls with the look of slight amusement on his face.

"No! Captain America is cute, and strong and he doesn't need any stuff to help him! He's too good for that!" Nudge retorted with a slightly dreamy look on her face.

"I agree with Ben, Iron Man wins!" Iggy cried dramatically causing Ella to giggle.

"Nope. Thor is the best! He was ripped!" Ella chirped, pushing open a set of glass, double doors. We emerged into sunlight and I immediately put a hand in front of my eyes in an attempt to shield them from the bright light.

"No, no, no," Iggy began, "Thor and Captain America clearly weren't the best."

"Hulk!" I said loudly.

"Smash!" Fang chimed in with a horrible imitation of the Incredible Hulk. "Hulk. Angry!" I was laughing so hard, I had to grab onto Ella's shoulder who was standing next to me, bent over in laughter.

I wiped my eyes, "But honestly, the Hulk was awesome. You've gotta admit it. He took that bad guy and slammed him on the ground a ton of times!"

"Whatever you say Max. You guys just don't have the insane ability to judge superheroes with, and decide who is the best," Iggy said smirking as he kicked over a pile of dead leaves that was on the pavement.

"OMG!" Ella yelled, her jaw dropping open as she stopped dead in her tracks. "Snow cones! Why didn't you guys tell me there was a snow cone place uptown!" My face broke into a grin. I love snow cones. They are the best thing in this world besides Walgreens and homemade chocolate chip cookies.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Fang asked, "They aren't gonna bring 'em to us."

Half an hour later, 6 hyped up kids emerged grinning from the snow cone shop. Ella and Nudge stuck out their tongues, and went cross-eyed trying to figure out if their tongues were colored. I laughed, they looked ridiculous. Ella's tongue was stained a dark purple, from her giant grape snow cone, and Nudge's was bright pink from her pink lemonade and watermelon mixed snow cone. Iggy opened his mouth, and his now bright orange teeth broke into a grin. Ben did the same, and his mouth was bright green from his green apple frozen snow. Fang and I both had blue mouths from blue raspberry, the decidedly best flavor ever.

After we walked around uptown for about an hour and a half, we decided to head back home. Ben's mom was coming to pick him up, and Iggy had to walk to Butterfield to pick up Gazzy from baseball or soccer practice. So it was Fang, Ella, Nudge and I walking home.

"Wait! Ella!" Nudge's face lit up into a huge smile.

"Yeah?" Ella turned around to face Nudge.

"What if," I heard Nudge begin.

"Oh God," I muttered under my breath.

"We went and got manis and/or pedis!" she finished with a flourish, and grin.

"Omg! Yeah! Let's do it! Which nail salon?" Ella asked grinning from ear to ear.

"Well Paradise Nails isn't too far from here, and they do designs for free, but the polish job's are really good!" Nudge said looking like she just won the lottery.

Ella's face lit up, "Yeah!" Then she and Nudge exchanged looks and at the same time turned towards me and Fang.

"Max-" the both began together, but I cut them off before they could finish their sentence.

"Absolutely not." I heard Fang chuckle next to me, and I smirked.

"But-" they tried again.

"I'm not going with you to get my nails done. No way," I replied matter-of-factly.

"Please-" they tried one last time, pulling Bambi eyes on me. I had to admit, Nudge had really good ones, and Ella's were a close second, but I managed to stay strong.

"Nope. C'mon Fang," I finished turning the other way. Fang and I turned to start walking back, and I heard Nudge and Ella again.

"Ooooooh," they began in that voice that people use when they find out who someone likes. Like 'Oooh, you like Billy…" or whatever. I rolled my eyes, and turned around.

"What?" Fang and I had both turned around at the sound.

"Omg! Max, it's so obvious!" Ella cried.

"Duh! You and Fang are like soul mates, and meant to be! Ever since you moved here you guys have been all over each other," Nudge sighed dreamily. Well now that I knew she liked Blake, I had some blackmail. Perfect.

I kinda laughed, kinda made an awkward face at Fang. "Eww, no offense Fang, but I mean your attractive and all, but I only like you as a friend. You know that right?"

He smirked, rolling his eyes. "No duh Max. And I wouldn't wanna go out with you, and all your attitude. You're like my best friend and that's weird. That'd be like dating my sister."

"See. We're friends. F-R-I-E-N-D-S." I said slowly, spelling it out for them.

"So you're friends with benefits!" Ella exclaimed with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at her. "Yolo!" Nudge cracked up and I rolled my eyes. You Only Live Once. No duh, I don't need a phrase to tell me that. I'm not a cat.

"Whatever, they'll realize it eventually. C'mon, let's go get our nails done!" Ella stuck her tongue out at me, and then she and Nudge high-fived and turned the other way towards the nail place. I smirked, rolling my eyes.

"Have fun," I called after them sarcastically.

"You're the ones who are gonna be having fun!" Nudge called back in her weird seductive voice.

Fang and I exchanged glances and started laughing. Just the thought of us being anything more than friends was just weird, and definitely not 'yolo' worthy.

"Why do they think you like me? And that I like you?" I asked somewhat confused. I'm not a super touchy-feely person if you hadn't picked up on it yet.

"I don't know. Probably cause we spend so much time together. And I talk to you," Fang answered. Would it kill him to talk in complete sentences?

"Yeah I guess. What do you mean you talk to me? I mean obviously, I'm not deaf," I replied with a hint of sarcasm. Fang's lips twitched up into a smile, then went back to his normal expression. But there was something different about it now, a twinge of sadness maybe. I couldn't tell exactly, he was particularly good at his hiding his emotions.

"Let's go somewhere, and I'll tell you. Like somewhere private, or special," he said softly. He was being unusually quiet, even for Fang. I nodded, and looked at him questioning.

"Where? Like at my house?" I asked still confused. He shook his head.

"No, there's a place I remembered. I'll show you. Let's go."


	7. FRESHMAN 6

We kept walking and neither of us talked. It was a comfortable silence though, it wasn't awkward. Stuff really wasn't awkward with Fang. I guess we just knew each other too well. We crossed the tracks which is the way we go back to our houses, but we turned made a sharp right instead of going straight.

"Sorry about all of this, it's kind of a long story, and I needed to tell someone anyway," he told me still walking. I nodded, giving him a reassuring smile, but I was still way confused.

"It's fine. You can tell me everything, Fang. I'm here for you," I replied honestly. If something was bothering him, it must be pretty bad. He's a pro at hiding is feelings, and he was really trying now, but he just couldn't close himself out completely. But this was good for him, he needed to let something go, and once he told me what it was…

We weren't walking on pavement anymore, but on a trail with trees and plants on both sides of us. We were on some sort of trail in a nature preserve I guessed. We must be on the border of town, because I hadn't been here before, or anywhere near here.

We continued walking down the path until Fang, who was slightly ahead of me, slowed down and made a left. He walked a few more steps and then stopped. A huge willow tree loomed in front us, it's branches swaying in the wind.

"Up here Max," Fang replied as he began to climb on the bottom branches. He pointed to a spot where all the branches met together. It looked to be a spot big enough for about 3 people to sit. It looked perfect, with a thick branch in the back to lean against, but none in the front so your legs hung off.

Once he was up there, I went up and he grabbed my hand and pulled it up. When he grabbed my hand, I felt warmth spread through my hand. I just ignored it, probably some weird reaction to the tree bark or wind or something. I noticed something in Fang's face change too, but it didn't register.

"Where'd you find this place?" I asked softly in awe looking around. It was beautiful.

Fang shrugged, "I'll start at the beginning." I nodded, and he began. "Well, I have an older sister. She's a sophomore in college at Northwestern, in Evanston. Was." He said the last word so quietly though that I couldn't hear him. It just sounded like he cleared his throat. I had no idea where this was going, but it couldn't be good.

"She was an amazing sister. She had received a full scholarship to play on their lacrosse team, and was majoring in journalism. She was doing so good and had it all going for her. She was on the starting line of their lacrosse team as low attacker, and was really good. She was doing really well in her class work, and had a good roommate and had made a ton of friends there. What could go wrong?" He took a breath, and I saw him clench his fist, and I put my hand on top of his, and he relaxed.

"Sorry," he muttered, then continued talking, "At the end of last year, she met this guy, Jake. He was a senior. He seemed great at first, but then everything went downhill. He was an amazing basketball player for the team, and was smart, we thought. But then out of nowhere, he got kicked off the team for drugs and alcohol. But he and my sister had been going out and she loved him, and didn't care as long as she was with him. Then she started to be like him. She was caught doing drugs and was suspended from lacrosse, but she didn't really seem to care, which was really weird." He breathed in again, and leaned back against the trunk.

"No one knew what was going on with her. She kept doing drugs, and was kicked off her team recently. Everyone was so confused because she had always been an over-achiever, and her goal as a kid was always to go to Northwestern. She'd had everything she'd always wanted and she just through it away for one stupid guy," he stopped to catch his breath. His expression turned stony. "The bastard. She was supposed to come home to visit in September, and leave him at college for once. But they were together at a party the night before. There were drugs and alcohol at the party, and they were coming home at 3 or so we think, and that's when it happened. He was driving, she was in the passenger seat. He ran a red light, and he was flying down the street, and they hit another car head on. She died instantly, as well as both of the passengers in the other car. He went into a coma, but eventually woke up. He's in jail now for killing both passengers in the other car, and for drug and alcohol abuse." He swallowed hard, and I could tell he was trying really hard to hold back his tears.

"Oh Fang," I sighed and leaned my head on his shoulder and we sat there. I felt wet spots trailing down my cheeks and on my shirt. Tears fell from my eyes, and I reached a hand up to wipe them off. I slid my glance up, and Fang had his eyes closed, but he wasn't crying. He looked almost angry, behind the sadness.

"You've picked up on why I'm not super emotional and talkative. That's why. It was right before I met you. The reason I talk to you is you are exactly like Kaylie, my sister. You have the same energy, and attitude, and you're just like her. It's why I was able to talk to you and connect with you so quickly. More than with the people I've been with forever. We were so close," I realized he was talking about Kaylie again. "Even though she was way older than me, we were friends. Really close, and I never got to say goodbye, or even see the old Kaylie again. Once she was changed, that was it."

"I'm so sorry. I wish I could do something more," I said sadly leaning into him. I wiped away another tear.

We sat there for about 20 minutes, and I just leaned on him, and held his hand. I didn't know what else to do, if there was anything I could do. I was so sad for him, but I knew I was the only one who could help him.

"Her funeral's on Wednesday," he said in a monotone voice.

"Do you want me to be there?" I asked as I quickly glanced at my phone to check the time.

"Would you?" he sounded so broken when he said that.

"Of course," I said nodding. I tried for a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace and I frowned.

"Thanks," he whispered. He cleared his throat again, "She found this place. That was why I brought you hear, but I can't come here alone anymore because I get too upset. It was our place. It can be our place now though."

I smiled, "Okay." I felt like he didn't want me to say anything, just sit here and be with him. So he knew I was here for him. "Do the others know?"

He nodded, "I'm not sure if Ella does. My mom told your mom too. They're really close friends now too. She's coming on Monday too. I was just waiting to tell you about it." I nodded, and squeezed his hand softly.

"Let's go home," he whispered and started moving to get into a position to get down. He jumped and landed softly in the cool dirt. I leapt down too, and he gave me a hand which I took. Normally I would refuse, I don't need help. But, I could tell he wanted to feel like I wasn't the only one doing the comforting here. It was just part of his nature.

We walked home in silence, occasionally brushing hands. We ended up walking to my house, and I didn't even realize it until we were on the front porch, ringing the door bell. My mom answered the door, and we both went in quietly. I had texted her about Fang telling me, and she knew.

"I have some dinner on the table for you guys if you want," she said warmly leading us into the kitchen. She had put out to steaming plates of spaghetti and meat sauce, and then she left to go do some laundry. We both ate, and talked a little bit. Once we were finished, we put our dishes away and went upstairs to my room.

I pulled the two beanbags I'd gotten, from what seemed a million years ago, over together and by one of my huge windows, and Fang and I each sat down. I sat there and just held his hand comforting him, reassuring him that I would come to the funeral with him. We sat there forever, at least a few hours. Before long, I felt myself drifting to sleep.

(fpov)

I watched as Max slowly fell asleep in her beanbag chair. I didn't know what was going on with me, but I felt there was something different with Max and I. I felt something that was more than friendship. I mean sure, I'd found plenty of other girls at school hot, or in magazines, but this was different. Ughh, now I really was a mental mess. Especially with Kaylie gone…Normally we would've talked and she would've told me exactly what I was feeling and why. She was my idol. And now she was dead. Somewhere I could never see or talk to her again. And all because of that stupid asshole, Jake. I put my head in hands, running them trough my hair. I made sure Max was really asleep, because I felt I was going to break down, something that had never happened to me before. I felt my eyes become damp, and I wiped them with my sleeve. I refused to cry, especially in front of Max, conscious or not. But I couldn't stop it, they ran down my cheeks and onto my lap without warning. Thankfully they fell silently, and Max was out cold. I sat there crying just thinking about everything happening. First Kaylie. Then Max came. She was so confusing. But she made me happy. I loved hanging out with her, and she made me happy. And she was the only person who understood me, and the only one I trusted with my life. Maybe I loved her…No I couldn't. She'd been here for only a few months. But I knew that I was starting to get feelings for her, more than friends. More than best friends. Where was this going? All I knew was that I couldn't tell Max. Ever. Unless I was positive she felt the same way for me, which as of now she didn't. She practically told me earlier today. Maybe, in forever, she'd like me. Oh God, she was so beautiful…

(mpov again)

I woke up with the most awful backache. It killed. I must've fallen asleep in that stupid beanbag last night with Fang. Fang? Was he still here? I opened my eyes, stood up and stretched, looking over to see my best friend out cold with his messy black hair covering his eyes. It was Monday morning. Shit. That meant I had to get ready to go to school. Thankfully it was 6:15, so I had around an hour to get ready. I guess I better wake Fang up and he can shower after me.

"Fang," I whispered, instantly he sat up and looked around.

"Oh hey Max," he muttered.

"Good morning sleepy head. But we have to go to school today, so I suggest you get your lazy butt out of bed and into the shower," I told him smirking. He rolled his eyes, but did what I said went into the bathroom locking the door. I heard the shower start running, and I went to my closet to pick out some clothes for the day.

In the end, I decided on a pair of PINK crop yoga pants, and a white V-neck with a bright blue tank underneath, and my Toms. Don't get me wrong, I'm not big on PINK (color or store) but I couldn't help it, their pants were too comfortable! I put it all on my bed and waited for Fang to get out of the shower.

A few minutes later, a relatively wet-looking Fang came out of the bathroom, dressed in a clean black shirt, and jeans. Where did he have these clothes in my house? Whatever.

After 10 minutes of standing under steaming water, and feeling clean and energized, I grabbed a towel, and changed into the clothes I brought into the bathroom with me. I toweled dried my hair, added some mousse to hold the natural waves, and put on a touch of mascara. Once I was ready, I came out of the bathroom, and Fang and I went downstairs to grab some food before we left. My wonderful mom had left a plate of just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls on a plate for us to split. Delish. I made a mental note to thank her later. We devoured them, and then stopped by Fang's to get his backpack and school stuff.

As we walked to school, Fang seemed much better than yesterday. He managed to seem happier and more himself, though I could tell that he was still upset. We were telling our teachers today we weren't going be in class tomorrow. His mom had already called in for both of us, so they knew.

The chilly November air made me pull my hoodie tighter around myself. In case I have never mentioned it before, I hate cold weather. I'm more of a beach 'n sun kinda girl. I love swimming and shorts and lemonade. I mean who likes mittens, scarves snow blowing? Yeah, I didn't think so. But the breeze made me think about the dance coming up. Some Winter Dance crap that I didn't want to go to. It was already the 28th of November, and the Dance was probably around the 16th or 17th. Winter break started on the 19th, so it could be earlier. Either way I really don't want to go. But I kinda have a feeling Nudge and Ella will flip if I don't. Even though they don't go to school with me…

"Max," I was no aware that Fang had said my name like 3 times by now.

"Sorry, I was spacing out." Fang smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"Anyway, we have a gig for the band coming up. On the 7th." We crossed the street and we could see the school about half a block ahead of us. Oh fun, learning. Not.

"Sounds good. Do we have a song selection picked out?" I asked as I restrained my desperate urge to punch all of the girls who were giggling behind us. They kept saying Fang's name but he ignored them.

"Not yet. We can do that next weekend, at our next rehearsal," he decided. I was debating on whether or not I'd get in trouble for flicking off the group of girls behind me, but I figured it'd be best not too, at least not now.

"Fang!" one of the girls in the group behind us said loudly, and might I add exceedingly flirtatiously. Exceedingly obnoxious is also a fantastic way to describe them. The girl had pin straight hair (which she most likely straightened to death several straightens ago), and sparkling blue eyes coated in mascara and eye shadow. She had on at least 10 layers of foundation and a pair of dark skinny jeans, a pretty see-through shirt, a scarf (a designer scarf, not winter scarf, as amusing as that would have been), and a pair of brown boots to top off her outfit.

"What." I swear if I could shoot lightening from my eyes, I would have. I gave her my best glare and I saw several of her friends step back.

"If I wanted you, I would have said 'slut'." She said not backing away.

"And if I wanted you, there would have to be something wrong with me," I replied not dazed by her comment. Looks like someone needs to go back to English class, I mean look in a mirror. Someone needs to turn on the lights _before_ they get dressed.

"Yeah like there's nothing wrong with you now? I mean there's a reason all your friends are guys. Well hmm, let's see…you have what? 2 friends? Iggy and Ben?" she stepped closer. I glared down at her, considering she was a good 3 inches shorter than me.

"And me," snarled Fang who was standing next to me, but hadn't intervened at this point. "Which means she has 3 more friends than you."

The girl, who turned out to Cassidy, blushed hotly. "Well, there must be something wrong with you, if you'd consider hanging out with her." I clenched my fists. It went downhill from there. And when I say downhill, I mean like fast. "Oh, by the way. I heard about your sister." Fang froze up. "I'm sorry," she said mockingly.

"How the hell did you hear about that?" he snarled, angry beyond belief.

"Well, me and my girls did a little spying," she said with a wink. "We heard some of your friends talking about it. Don't worry, it wasn't their fault."

She was going to a whole new level. Don't worry, Max can go there too. And that was when I punched her. Yeah, you heard me. Punched. Like with my fist.

"Yeah well you know what, I'm not sorry." Her nose erupted in a flow of blood.

Cassidy started shrieking. "Oh my God! She punched me! She punched me!" Damn right I did. "Help! I'm bleeding! It's everywhere!"

"Don't worry, head wounds always bleed a lot," I said sincerely, then grabbed Fang's arm and dragged him away.

He wasn't talking as I grabbed him and pulled him over by a bench under the trees.

"Fang," I began, and he looked up. His eyes were on fire, he was livid. I'd never seen him that mad before. He looked scary almost.

"I just can't believe Cassidy would do something like that. Bring up my sister."

"That bitch," I chimed in. That made his face loosen a little. He tried for a smile, but it came out as a grimace.

"You realize you could get suspended for punching her," he informed me.

"Doubt it. I didn't even hit her hard enough to break her nose. Besides, no one should ever say that. It was bull." I replied.

"Well thanks then," he said, picking up his backpack, and I nodded. I threw one of my arms around his shoulders, and we walked into the school.

About 2 hours later, during 3rd period, the intercom came on. I had been expecting it since homeroom, so it wasn't really a surprise.

"Maximum Martinez?" came a slightly mechanized voice from the speaker.

"She's here," my teacher answered.

"Please send her to the office immediately." The voice intoned, and I mentally rolled my eyes. I nodded, at the teacher and packed up my stuff. I felt eyes boring into me, but I didn't look at anyone.

I walked into the office, and was greeted by the same secretaries who were here the first day.

"Hi Max," the one on the right greeted me warmly. "You can go in."

I knocked on the big wooden door, and was greeted with a low man's voice, "Come in."

"Maximum Martinez," I said as I walked in, and shook his hand.

"Ah, yes. I need to speak to you." Well I would hope so. I didn't want to come up here for nothing, I thought. "About an incident that happened this morning before school." I liked how he said 'incident', not 'accident'. "As I have heard, you punched Cassidy Pruitt in the nose. Thankfully it's not broken, but I need to here from you what happened. I then need to provide appropriate consequences." For a second I debated coming up with an excuse, then I realized that he would know about Fang's sister. For one, he would know her as a former student, and Fang's mom called in for us.

"Okay, well Fang and I were walking to school and Cassidy came up behind us, trying to talk to Fang. He didn't want to talk to her, and I told her so, and she got mad and called me a slut. We kind of were insulting each other for a while and then she said something very personal about Fang's sister. Have you heard what happened? To Kaylie?" I took a breath waiting for an answer.

I saw his face fall, obviously aware of the situation and upset by it as well. "Yes. It's terrible. She was always one of my favorite students."

"Well, Cassidy said some things about her death to Fang because she was mad at me. And I got mad because the things she said were awful, and Fang doesn't need anymore stress or trouble right now. You heard the funeral was tomorrow?" He nodded.

"What exactly did she say?" he asked quietly, clearly troubled.

"Honestly, it's really not worth repeating," I replied. He nodded understanding.

"Well Max, thanks for being honest. And I personally agree with your move to protect Fang, but violence isn't always the answer. However, I do have to punish you, but considering your new to school, and I understand how everything happened, I am going to let it go, as long as it doesn't happen again. I approve of your loyalty to your friends."

"Thank you," I said as I got up, gathered my stuff and went on my way to 4th period.

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews! That's awesome! Keep 'em coming! So sorry for the super long break between updates! I was on vacation and have been doing 6 hours of volleyball a day for practices! And school's starting on Monday so I'm gonna be so busy! Please keep reading and reviewing! BTW, this chapter's kinda confusing so let me know if it doesn't make sense! Thanks guys! **


	8. FRESHMAN 7

I woke up this morning sad, and I just got more and more sad as the day went on. Today was Tuesday. The day of the funeral. I rubbed my eyes, and looked over at the bright red letters blinking 8:25 out at me. I slammed my hand down on the off button to make the beeping stop. I got out of bed, and went absent-mindedly to the closet to look for something to wear. I found a black dress, and slipped it on over my head. It had a round neckline, there's a single chest pocket on one side, and then the dress gathers a little above my waist, and then goes back down again. Yeah, I know it's hard to describe. And yes, I am wearing a dress, as hard as that is to imagine for most people. I found a skinny tan, braided belt that I put over the gather material at my waist. I added a simple silver necklace, with diamond studs (fake of course!), and my black sandals.

Once I was dressed, I headed downstairs, but was stopped by a determined looking sister. Oh God, was she going to do my hair? And makeup? Like more than my usual mousse and mascara? Yuck.

"Max…" she started, and then being the little devil she is, pulled her bambi eyes. Yes I am hard-core. Yes I am Max. But did I fall like a sucker for her stupid bambi eyes? Yes I did. Man, I should have totally seen that coming and ran screaming from her. "Pretty please let me do your hair and makeup for you."

I sighed. Well more groaned, but you catch my drift. "Fine." I dragged my feet as I stomped into her brightly painted bathroom. She pushed me into a chair with a zebra cushion, to match her zebra knobs. Her straightener was already plugged in, and heated up, to a degree which could easily kill my hair. Why did I let her talk me into this?

"Yay! Max! You look absolutely gorgeous!" she exclaimed after about 15 minutes of over-heating my hair and smudging stuff on my face. She claimed it looked good, and I don't exactly have an eye for this sort of thing so I just nodded.

"Thanks Ells," I muttered. But I definitely had to admit, this girl was some sort of miracle-worker because my hair lay shiny, smooth and pin straight past my shoulders. She had taken a chunk from the right side and braided it back, pinning it in place with a bobby pin. She put on a thin layer of foundation making my skin glow, put some shimmery natural colored eye shadow on my eye lids, and curled my eyelashes and then did (in my opinion) a perfect amount of mascara. A little.

She herself was wearing a black dress, harder to describe then mine. It was sleeveless, and the top part was lace, and then it went into a black fabric. It also gathered at her waist, and then went out again, a little above her knees. Her normally straight hair, was in perfect beachy waves. I noticed her crimper sitting on the counter cooling down. She pulled back a section and added a small poof (no where near Snooki sized thank God) on the side. Her makeup was more prominent then mine, but she pulled it off really well. I'd always been jealous of how naturally pretty she was though.

"Gosh Max, you just look stunning," she said sighing softly.

"Look in the mirror Ella! You look gorgeous! Thanks by the way," I replied with a slight smile. "C'mon let's go downstairs. It's already 9:00 and it starts at 10:00. I told Fang I'd go early with him." I noticed she hid a smirk, most likely resisting the urge to tell me 'what a great couple' we'd be. Yeah right. I couldn't go out with my best friend. It'd be weird and I don't like him like that anyway. Right? Man I hate being a teenager and hormones and all the crap that came with it. Whatever, I didn't have time to deal with the future with Fang, I had to deal with the present with Fang now.

Ella snapped me out of my thoughts, "You know Max, if you aren't going to come downstairs, I can always add some more makeup to you. Maybe some pink, it would really bring out your eyes," she said with a smile.

"Let's go," I said using my if-you-ever-think-about-doing-that-I-will-kill-you voice. She giggled and grabbed her black purse, and skipped down the stairs. Yes, apparently it is possible for one to _skip_ yes, I said skip, down stairs. Without falling, as amusing as that would have been.

"Morning girls, you look nice," mom said looking up from the newspaper she was holding. She was wearing a dress, black of course, and it was rather simple and I'd prefer not to have to describe another relatively similar black dress to you, for the sake of you (and I) will die of boredom.

Anyway, I plopped down on the chair next to her, "Mrs. Ride is going to drive me at 9:30. Fang asked me if I would go early with him."

"Yes, Molly called over here last night to tell me. She's also going to give Ella a lift because I have to drop some papers off at the office on the way. I won't be late but figured you two wouldn't mind skipping that," she took a sip of her coffee and then realized I had (well Ella) had done my hair and makeup. "Max, you look beautiful. Nice job Ella," my mom, the genius, knew me well enough to realize I would never voluntary do my hair and makeup by myself. Ever.

"Hey," I said frowning, "What if _I_ did my hair and makeup?" Mom just looked at me, then all three of us cracked up.

"Yeah right," Ella muttered grinning. I rolled my eyes at her, as I took the last bight of my muffin. Did I tell you I love muffins? Well they are freaking delicious.

"C'mon Ella. I told Fang I'd walk over at 9:20 so we could get there by 9:40." She nodded, slipped on a pair of black heels.

"See you girls over there."

We walked over to Fang's house, and Ella rang the doorbell. Molly answered right away. She was in another black dress, which I shall also spare you the details of having to read about. It was black. It was a dress. It looked like my moms. Done. "Hi girls. Thanks so much for coming early with us."

"Oh no problem Mrs. Ride," Ella chirped sweetly.

"If you want, you can finish getting Angel ready," she told Ella and her face lit up.

"I'd love too!" she said grinning, and then bounded off to go apply her beautification skills on the little children who don't know better of our generation.

"Really Max, thanks for coming. It means a lot to Fang. And me too of course. You've really helped Fang a lot since you've became friends. He talks about you all the time," she informed me once Ella had left. Wait what? She just meant because we're really good friends right? I nodded and smiled.

"Anytime. I'm really glad I could come. Where is Fang?" This conversation was starting to get awkward and I wanted out.

"Yes, he's in his room. He's upset, but we all are. Michael's already there getting everything set up."

"Okay thanks." I headed up the stairs, and saw Fang come out of his bedroom. He was wearing black dress pants, black dress shoes, a black tie on his white button down shirt, with a black dress jacket over that.

"Hey," he said softly as I approached. "Thanks for coming. Early too."

"Of course," I said. He looked miserable so I went over and I gave him a hug. Normally Fang is the most unhuggable person on the planet, and I usually just do my best. But today he actually opened his arms and hugged me back. It was a relatively longish hug too, at least 6 Mississippi's. That's pretty long in my book. But that meant Fang was also really upset. I could totally see why though, and this sucked. Everything about it. "It'll be okay," I whispered, and I could feel him nod, barely, into the back of my dress.

He pulled back, "Sorry, I'm just-" and I cut him off.

"No, don't be sorry for anything. You didn't do anything. You're great. C'mon let's go," I said more gently.

"But really Max. Thanks." He said softly. I nodded, and took his hand and we walked downstairs.

Ella eyed my hand in his when we approached them, but I gave her a say-a-word-and-I-will-punch-you look, and I guess she understood because she didn't say anything. Or smirk. Or giggle for that matter.

"Okay, let's go guys," Molly said and I noticed her eyes were swimming with tears already. This would be the worst feeling in the entire world. Losing one of the few people you care most about.

"Max!" Angel yelled running over.

"Angel," I crooned, hugging her closely. Yes, she too was in a black dress. However despite my dislike of dresses, she looked adorable. But Angel always looks adorable. Her eyes were red, and puffy and I could tell she'd been crying.

"I like your sister too Max," she said with a sniffle, and Ella smiled modestly. I nodded, her sitting in my lap now. "Your coming with, right Max?"

"Of course."

"You look super pretty Max. You should always look like that. I bet Fang thinks you look extra pretty too," Angel said sweetly.

"Thanks Ange," I said with a small smile. "I love your dress too. And your hair looks extra pretty today." I pushed one of her perfect golden curls out of her face. What was that about Fang thinking I was pretty? I pretended not to take anything from it and smiled. I could tell Fang was blushing from the way he was awkwardly shuffling his feet.

"Thanks," she said with a grin. She'd just lost a tooth so her grin had a small black hole in it. This kid was just so dog-one cute. But honestly, what was with everybody pushing on the whole 'Fang thinks your pretty', 'Fang always talks about you', 'Fang needs to ask you out' and everything like that? I guess everybody thinks we should be 'together'. I'm still not sure where I stand on that.

Molly saved me from having to ponder it anymore, "Well we better get going."

We got to the funeral home and set up everything. About 15 minutes after we'd been there, people started showing up. Nudge's family was first, soon followed by Iggy and Gazzy's family. They too were dressed in formal black clothes. My mom came. Lots of Kaylie's friends from college and highschool were there. Ben's family came too with Alexis. Her dad was at work, and her mom was out of town. Her older brother was away at college. Fang's family was also there. His grandparents, aunts and uncles, and only a few cousins. Everyone came and shook Fang's hand, and a few hugged him. Finally we were asked to take our seats.

A coffin was placed in the front of the room on a table beautifully decorated with flowers. There was a picture of her from her senior year of highschool, and I had to admit she was drop-dead gorgeous. Any guy would be lucky to have her. She had thick long black hair, and had a similar tan to Fang. She had the same cheekbones as him, and her sparkling white teeth formed into a perfect smile. However, unlike Fang, her eyes were a beautiful turquoise blue color that stood out. I noticed Angel had the same eyes.

Michael went up and talked about Kaylie. How she was a wonderful daughter and top of her class in school and sports. He was tearing up as he continued to talk. He talked about her as a toddler, in elementary school. He read a speech he had prepared, and he finished with "A thousand words won't bring her back I know because I've tried. Neither will a million tears I know because I've cried." He came and sat down next to Molly. She was sitting next to Angel, and then Fang and then me and Ella.

I squeezed Fang's hand, and I stood up. "I'd like to sing a song in honor of Kaylie," I said. My voice came out shaky, and I steadied it. I took a deep breath. "It's called Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton."

Angel was crying hard, and Fang had an arm around her shoulders. Michael and Molly were both holding hands and were silently crying. Fang's eyes were a little wet, but I knew he would do anything but cry in front of people. I adjusted the microphone and closed my eyes. I new this song by heart so well, and I'd sung it about a million times.

Would you know my name

If I saw you in heaven?

Would it be the same

If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong

And carry on

'Cause I know I don't belong

Here in heaven

Would you hold my hand

If I saw you in heaven?

Would you help me stand

If I saw you in heaven?

I'll find my way

Through night and day

'Cause I know I just can't stay

Here in heaven

Time can bring you down

Time can bend your knees

Time can break your heart

Have you begging please

Begging please

Beyond the door

There's peace, I'm sure

And I know there'll be no more

Tears in heaven

Would you know my name

If I saw you in heaven?

Would it be the same

If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong

And carry on

'Cause I know I don't belong

Here in heaven

'Cause I know I don't belong

Here in heaven

I opened my eyes, took another breath and stepped back from the microphone. Fang had finally given in and tiny rivulets of water streaming down his face. Both his parents were sobbing silently. I left the podium and returned to my seat. Fang wiped his eyes as I came and sat down. The tears stopped suddenly, as if he remembered he was in public.

"Thanks Max. That was amazing," he whispered softly. I just smiled in response. The funeral was almost over. A few more people spoke, and expressed condolences towards the Ride family. I reached up towards my face and I pulled my hand back as I realized it was wet. I hadn't even realized that tears had been flowing down my face.

Once the funeral was over, people began to clear out. However Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy and their families remained. Nudge's face was red and Gazzy had dried tear tracks running down his cheeks. He went over to go talk to Angel. They were the cutest kids in the world, and really good friends. Nudge and Ella were both wiping their eyes and talking quietly.

"Hey man," Iggy said walking over. Fang nodded in acknowledgment and walked to meet Iggy.

"Hey," he said quietly. "Thanks for making it." Iggy nodded.

"Your song was really good Max," Iggy said surprising me slightly. He was never really one for compliments and mostly relied on sarcasm as his main way of communication.

"Thanks Ig," I said, and I noticed him glance over at Ella every few seconds. I could tell she noticed too and was blushing and kept busily talking to Nudge. Iggy walked over to Ella and Nudge and talked to them, leaving me and Fang there. I put my arm around his shoulders and we stood there for a while, as his parents finished cleaning up.

"Okay well we're all done." Michael said as he herded us all out the doors. We got in the car with him, leaving Molly talking to Nudge's parents. It was just Fang and I in the car, because Ella went to Nudge's, and Gazzy and Iggy went home with their own parents. My own mom had already left. We rode home in a quiet silence. The sad mood hung in the air the whole ride home.

I arrived home to a cup of hot chocolate, courtesy of my mom, and sat down with her and cried. I hadn't cried much at the funeral, but had tried to be strong especially for Fang. I just needed to be able to let my emotions go, just for a minute. Once I pulled myself together, I went upstairs put on a pair of sweats, a T-shirt and went to go watch movies in the basement. I just needed to be alone for a while.

**Hey guys. Sorry this chapters kinda sad, and very short. I need some ideas! Running into another writer's block! Thanks! Please review!**


	9. FRESHMAN 8

After a month into the school year, the staff and school board realized that having a homeroom was a waste of at least 10 minutes so they just got rid of it. So now, basically we go to first period and they take attendance and we have announcements sometime during first or second period.

Mr. Brown, my first period math teacher, put down the paper for the announcements. "So, for announcements today…Key Club meeting before school Friday, a meeting for P.R.I.D.E. is after school tomorrow, tryouts for jazz band are after school Monday and Tuesday next week, and the Winter Formal's coming up." I let out an audible sigh. The Winter Formal was a dance. A dance meant I had to buy a dress and wear makeup and get a date. I would have to go dress shopping with Ella and most likely Nudge. Fantastic. Even worse, that meant I needed a date. And considering my best friend was a boy, I couldn't exactly go with like a group of girlfriends like most of the grade probably would.

"I have a question," Alyssa, friends with that stupid Cassidy girl and insanely obnoxious, said swinging her hand back and forth in the air. "Mr. Brown?" Well no duh. I mean she was waving her hand back and forth for Pete's sake. What else could she possibly want?

"Yes, Alyssa?" Mr. Brown said patiently. He was one of my favorite teachers because he was young, fit, not to mention a tiny bit cute and a good teacher. He was fun but still strict enough where you wouldn't blow him off.

"Okay so do you like need a date?" No you go by yourself. All alone, Because no one would be stupid enough to ask you.

"Not necessarily. I mean you can go with a group of friends, or go on like a group date." He shuffled a few papers on his desk. "Any other questions?" No one raised their hand, so he continued. "Alright then, moving on." He went to the board and started writing a bunch of equations on the board, and told us to solve using a system of equations. We could use either substitution, or elimination. I'm pretty sure you could use a matrix too, but I just went with the program. Class went by normally as we solved a variety of problems using different methods.

It was lunch time and I was starving. I hadn't had time for breakfast and I was gonna die of starvation. No joke. "You going to the Winter Formal?" I asked Fang as he sat down in the seat next to me. It was the end of November, and the dance was approaching faster than I liked.

He shrugged his shoulders as he bit into his apple. "Maybe."

"Vague much?" I couldn't resist saying. He smirked and continued chomping away. "Iggy what about you?" I asked wondering if he would ask Ella.

"Yeah. I don't know who I'm going with. You have to have a date though. At least that's what Ethan said. He's a junior. Like everyone gets dates for the dance and they even play slow music." He seemed to be deep in thought, probably deciding whether or not to ask my sister.

"What about you Max?" asked Fang giving me a weird look. He'd already eaten his apple and was steadily making his way through a bag of pretzels.

"Yeah. My mom and sister will make me. With a date too." I said trying not to groan aloud. I noticed Fang smirk.

"Well you better ask somebody," I replied practically eating my sandwich whole.

"Okay Max. Whatever you say." I rolled my eyes, and then an evil smile appeared on his face, "Maybe Gordon will ask you!" Gordon was this cute guy in my science, and English class. Fang always teased me about liking him.

"Shut up!" I said shoving him jokingly. But before he could tease me more, the bell rang and I had to hurry to get to the next class.

The rest of the day flew by, even World Studies which seems to take forever. I was at my locker getting my books ready to blow this popsicle stand, when I practically ran into Gordon.

"Hey Max!" he said smiling brightly.

"Hey Gordon! What's up?" I asked smiling. Yes unusual for me I know, but I sorta kinda had a teensy weensy crush on him. Well okay, it wasn't really that teensy weensy.

"Going to my locker. Look Max, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked his gorgeous eyes wide. He ran a hand through blond hair that was spiked up in the front.

"Yeah sure," I replied casually, trying not to get too hopeful.

"I just have a thing here…" he trailed off and he set his backpack down to find something. "Here," he pulled out a huge poster that read 'MAX, IT WOULD ROCK MY WORLD IF YOU WENT TO THE WINTER FORMAL WITH ME?' and he pulled out some of those fake air guitars with words on them, to prop up the poster. One of the guitars said yes, and the other said no, and I reached for the one that read yes without a second though. It was such a cute way to ask someone to homecoming, especially since I was into rock music. He really knew me already and this was so sweet.

"I would love to go to the Winter Formal with you," I said smiling.

"That'd rock Max," he said with a wink and I laughed, and he smiled. "Wanna maybe catch a movie sometime or grab some fro-yo uptown?" Fro-yo by the way, for all of you unaware, is the frozen yogurt at Yogen Fruz which is freaking delicious.

"Sounds great!" I exclaimed with a grin. As I was about to say goodbye, Iggy came strolling up the hallway and saw me just in time.

"Max!" he jokingly yelled across the room. "This is a Kodak moment!" he yelled making his way over to us and grabbing out his phone.

"Iggy," I groaned and he grinned. Gordon came over and put his arm around my shoulders, and I put mine around his back. He held up the poster with his free hand, and I held up the air guitar with the answer yes on it.

"CHEESE!" Iggy said sounding triumphant.

"Today Iggy. I don't want to stay here until the dance," I muttered and Gordon laughed. Finally Iggy finished taking the picture, and I said good-bye and thanks to Gordon.

"Yeah, fro-yo sounds good! I'll text you!" I said as I turned to walk down the hallway. Gordon took the bus, he explained so he couldn't walk me out. "Thanks, I can't wait." He grinned and then waved good-bye.

"Hey what's up with you? You're practically glowing," a familiar voice said coming up from behind me.

"Guess who just asked a special someone to Winter Formal?" I said smiling huge.

"Hmmm…let me see…Iggy?" he pretended.

"Haha, very funny Fang. And no gross. No offense to Iggy or anything but nope…guess again."

He noticed the huge smile, "Gordon!" he exclaimed teasing but I nodded still grinning.

"Ooooh! Max and Gordon sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-S-S-S-I-N-G!" yelled Iggy coming up the hallway. Apparently the picture wasn't enough.

"There's only two S's in kissing Iggy," said Fang in a how-stupid-are-you-voice.

"Unless they're doing it for a long time!" Iggy said cackling. I couldn't help laughing at Iggy's stupid joke.

"See, she thinks it's funny!" Iggy said defensively, and then wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"Whatever Ig," Fang said sounding a little upset.

"What's wrong?" I asked Fang once we had gotten outside, back in the fresh air. Might I add away from Iggy, because he got distracted by someone from his English class.

"Nothing," he said in a voice that sounded fairly forced for Fang, who was normally easy going and quiet.

"Something's obviously wrong Fang," I said in my no-nonsense tone.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing Max, it's fine. I just need to figure out who I'm going to ask to the dance." Fang was acting somewhat strange, and I'd noticed it since around lunch time. We'd already approached the street where we turned to get to our houses, and I decided to drop the conversation for now.

"Okay. Hey by the way, when's our next band rehearsal?" I asked eager to change the subject.

"Random much Max?" Fang asked. I could tell something was still bothering him but he was trying not to show it. Maybe it was just the funeral and the dance and just school and everything getting to him. I mean that happens to me sometimes, but I'm also a girl and emotional and all that crap that you get stuck with for being smarter, stronger and a freaking girl.

"Whatever, Fang," I said rolling my eyes. "But we do have a gig coming up right? The Christmas one? When's the benefit concert?"

"Geez Max, not so fast," he said smirking. I rolled my eyes again but grinned anyway. "But we're actually gonna to a combo concert thing on Christmas Eve or the day before. We're gonna do the sad songs to get donations and do Christmas music too."

"Isn't that a little redundant?" I wondered aloud, not intentionally. "I mean like sing a bunch of sad songs and then skip to all these like happy, upbeat songs?"

"Yeah I guess, but whatever. It'll be fun I think. Maybe Gordon will come," he said wiggling his eyebrows at me. I smirked, but noticed the smallest glare in his eyes when he mentioned my new dates' name. Unless I was imagining, this wouldn't be unusual for me.

"You're just jealous I have a date to the dance and you don't," I teased and he instantly blushed, leaving me very confused at this point. Why was he blushing, while talking about who I like? Man, does being a girl suck sometimes. And I thought Ella was confusing, but this was like a whole new level.

"Yup, Max. That's it," he muttered. "Well I'm babysitting Angel tonight because my mom has some PTA meetings and stuff to do. Text you later." He called as he headed toward the curb to get to his house.

Man, I had some major thinking to do about some major things. Like Fang. And Gordon. Well I guess not major problems, but you catch my drift. Anyways okay so I kinda like Gordon, and now we're going out, so what was Fang's problem with everything. I mean when does he care about my like personal issues? Whatever, I decided to just forget it until later. I'm guessing I'm over analyzing this lot. I walked in the door, and was greeted by the fantastic, magical scent of baking cookies. In case you are a very deprived child, and have never experienced the amazing sensation of baking cookies, it's like a freakin' masterpiece. They smell like heaven, in case you were wondering. My mom was in her office working, so I sat on the ground in front of the oven and watched the cookies for about 10 minutes, until I heard Ella's shriek.

"OMG! OMG! MAX! MAX! MAX!"

"That would be me," I said sarcastically grinning. "Yeah Ella?"

"GORDON!" she continued, still in an octave I could barely hear.

"Asked me to Winter Formal." I finished the sentence for her.

"HOW?!" Geez this was a lot of questions. I felt like I was one of those suspects in jail or court that gets like interrogated about crimes to see if they're guilty. However, because I'm a great sister, I explained everything to her that happened today.

"Aw Max! That's so cute!" Ella squealed grinning in delight. "It was on Facebook." She explained as I opened my mouth to ask how she found out so fast. Of course. Iggy. I was really gonna kill that kid.

"We're going dress shopping!" she squealed after a moment of rapid-fire texting to a bajillion people she had met already at school. "And he has to get a matching tie to the color of your dress!" I rolled my eyes. She opened her mouth and kept chatting on about all the excitement of my first date for the dance and a bunch of other stuff I didn't listen to.

(FPOV)

I walked in and slammed the door shut after me, partially on purpose but mostly on accident. My dad was working late tonight and mom was taking Angel to swimming lessons and wouldn't be back for at least 45 minutes. God. I had so much to think about and just digest from today.

Max. Max. Max. That girl was confusing, but I loved her. Well I'm pretty sure I loved her. I mean she was the only person I could think about. Ever. Like she basically controlled my feelings. She brought me up or down. Yet I loved her for it. She was just gorgeous, and funny and an amazing guitar player and singer. I just wished she would think about me the way I thought about her. I laid down on my bed, and plugged my earbuds in, and sang outloud to my new favorite song.

_Katie don't cry I know,_

_You're trying your hardest _

_And the hardest part is letting, go_

_Of the nights we shared, _

_Ocala is calling, and you know its haunting but,_

_Compared to your eyes nothing shines quite as bright _

_And when we look to the sky, it's not mine but I want it so,_

_Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight (I know he's there)_

_You're probably hangin' out and makin' eyes (While across the room he stares)_

_I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,_

_And she'll say yes._

_Because these words were never easier to say, _

_Or her to second guess,_

_But I guess_

_That I can live without you, _

_**B**__ut without you I'll be miserable at best._

_You're all that I'd hoped I'd find,_

_In every single way._

_And everything I could give,_

_Is everything you could take._

_Cause nowhere feels like home, when you're a thousand miles away._

_And the hardest part of living is just taking breaths to stay_

'_Cause I know I'm good for something_

_I just haven't found it yet, but I need it._

_Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight (I know he's there)_

_You're probably hangin' out and makin' eyes (While across the room he stares)_

_I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,_

_And she'll say yes._

_Because these words were never easier to say, _

_Or her to second guess,_

_But I guess_

_That I can live without you, _

_**B**__ut without you I'll be miserable at best._

_Ladada Ladada Ladadaoh ohhh_

_And this will be the first time in a week,_

_That I'll talk to you and I can't speak._

_Been three whole days since I've had sleep_

'_Cause I dream of his lips on your cheek._

_And I got the point that should leave you alone_

_But we both know that I'm not that strong_

_And I miss the lips that made me fly._

_Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight (I know he's there)_

_You're probably hangin' out and makin' eyes (While across the room he stares)_

_I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,_

_And she'll say yes._

_Because these words were never easier to say, _

_Or her to second guess,_

_But I guess_

_That I can live without you, _

_But without you I'll be miserable _

_And I can live without you_

_Oh, but without you I'll be miserable at best. _

I breathed out heavily. These lyrics basically described how I felt about Max. I don't get it. I've known her for like 5 months but she's almost impossible to not like. I tightened my gut. If you really cared you'd want her to be happy. Yeah. She's happy with Gordon. As long as she's happy, I'm happy. I told myself this a few times.

Since Max is going with Gordon, I need to ask someone else. Besides she's basically the only who doesn't know I like her. We'll probably all hang out before and after anyway. We, referring to Ben and Alexis (Lexi), Ella and Iggy, and Max and Gordon, and then obviously whoever I ask.

I guess there was always Marian. She was in a few of my classes, kinda pretty and sang in choir. I mean nothing like Max, but she was better than nothing. I wondered if Iggy had ever asked Ella yet? I mean since she was still at middle school and all. And Ben was going to ask Lexi at their volleyball game this weekend, and I was going to help. Even though I was a guy, I had to admit the way he was gonna ask her was adorable. It involved volleyball and lacrosse, her too favorite things. You think I'm gonna tell you how he was gonna ask her? Nope. You can wait.

**Sorry, I know this is kinda the opposite of FAX but I wanna have it be later on in the story! Sorry it's been taking me so long to update! Got lots of stuff going on! Thanks for the ideas! Keep them coming! RnR! 333**


	10. FRESHMAN 9

"OMG! Max! This is so exciting! What color do you like? Strapless? No, I don't think you should go strapless because you're gonna be dancing the whole night. One-shoulder? Oooh, that'd be gorgeous on you Max! Let's go to Macy's, Windsor and Nordstrom. Those are by far the best for dress selection! I mean come on, everyone knows that! Duh! But hmm…I think you should get like a deep, but bright color! Ya know? Like a royal blue, or maybe a deep purple! Hmm maybe red?" Nudge rambled on for about 15 minutes about dress styles, colors and anything that the word dress in relative proximity. My mom, in the driver's seat next to me choked back a few laughs. I rolled my eyes, and Nudge just grinned ecstatically. Ella was next to her and they were going on and on about fashion. Kill me now.

"Calm down, Nudge." I said slightly smiling and her natural ability to make people happy. She blushed happily and was practically bouncing in her seat next to Ella.

"I still don't understand why Fang couldn't have come with?" I grumbled, "It would have made this trip at least a little more fun." I'd asked both Ella and my mom if I could bring Fang with us, but they had both said no. My mom sighed.

"Max, it's so obvious! You can't bring Fang with you dress shopping because one, he's a guy and then we couldn't have like a girls day! And secondly, you're not going with him because you're going with Gordon! We all agree that he was going to ask you, but you can't bring him with to like rub in his face that you have a date! Duh!" Ella said from the backseat. Mom even nodded next to me.

"Oh my gosh! He doesn't like me! We're friends! You guys are all on like crack or something," I said laughing. "But I really don't get why you all think he likes me."

"Max, I have to agree with Ella here. He really does like you more than friends." Guess who said that. My freaking mom!

"Fine. But I'm not in agreement on this." I unbuckled my seat belt as we pulled into a spot in the back parking lot of the mall. It was an outdoor mall, and it was a chilly Sunday afternoon, and it was already December. I couldn't believe we'd already been here for 4 months.

"Where do you girls wanna start?" mom asked buttoning her jacket as a large gust of wind blew through the trees.

"Windsor!" Ella and Nudge both squealed in unison.

"I don't care. But you promised that if we got a dress we could get food. And snacks." I said reminding everyone of our compromise. I'd go dress shopping if we could eat. And get me extra food because I was bound to get hungry later. I eat like a mofo, not even kidding.

"Yeah, yeah whatever Max! Dresses!" Ella chirped.

We walked into Windsor and started looking through racks of dresses.

"OMG! Max! This one's cute!" It was one-shoulder, the bottom was all sequins that were silver and black, and the top was pink and very low cut. Nudge, of course, was holding up the hanger with the dress on it looking hopefully over the top.

I gave her a look that was a combination of have-you-lost-your-freaking-mind and in-what-possible-universe-would-I-ever-go-anywhere-in-that-thing. I think she got the message and immediately went back to looking. After several other failed attempts at pleasing me, my mom came over holding a blue dress on hanger up. It was decent I guess, well loads better than any of the others. This dress was also one-shoulder, a deep royal blue color, and fitted to my body. The best part, well in my opinion, was the bow on the shoulder. There was a huge bow, made from the fabric, which was on the one shoulder. Yeah, it sounds tacky, but it really looked awesome. And I'm not one for fashion or clothes or any of this crap, but if I say it's cute, you can take that to the bank.

My mom breathed in, "Oh Max, you look beautiful!"

Ella had just turned around and her mouth literally dropped open. I kid you not. "Max, you look amazing! That dress looks perfect on you! You're getting it!"

"OMG! Max! Girl, you look so gorgeous! I wish I could be that pretty! And you don't even try!" Nudge squealed as she came prancing over to see the winning dress.

"Thanks Nudge. You guys are both gorgeous. I'm being totally serious!" I exclaimed smiling. My mom nodded at me. I knew that was a you-are-getting-this-dress-no-matter-what-you-say-because-it's-beautiful-on-you nod, and I grinned. Not gonna lie, I was actually a teensy weensy bit excited now. I mean come on; I have a gorgeous dress, a gorgeous date that is super sweet and funny, and my best friends going with me to the dance too. Okay, I'll admit it, but you can't tell my sister, but I really am excited for the Winter Formal now, even getting dressed up! Imagine that. Never in a million years would I, Max Martinez, have thought I would have a date, in this new town, to a dance and a best friend who's going to be there too.

"Now this is what I'm talking about," I said chomping my way through a bag of cinnamon pretzel sticks from Auntie Anne's. They were still warm from the oven and my mouth was watering before we even got inside.

"Agreed," Ella and Nudge added in unison, smiling at their twinliness. Just pretend that's a word.

I licked my fingers, cleaning off the delicious brown crystals which were making their way onto my lap.

"You girls ready to hit it?" my wonderful mother who bought me pretzel sticks asked taking a sip from her Diet Coke.

I nodded and took a swig of my own Dr. Pepper, which was almost gone already. Once we were all situated in the car, Ella remembered a very important part of the homecoming ensemble.

"Wait! Max! Don't you have to get Gordon one of those Boutonniere things? Like the flower thing that matches the corsage he's gonna get you? Nudge is that right?" Ella asked making sure to check her fashion knowledge with the expert.

Nudge nodded in agreement, "She's right! I don't know how I could have forgotten. But yeah you gotta get one for Gordon! Aww Max you're gonna be so cute!"

I blushed, "Thanks Nudge. Mom?" I asked assuming she would know the protocol of dances with dates.

She nodded also, and I sighed. So much for leaving now.

"It's all right sweetie, I can pick one up while you're at school or something." Yes. Best mom ever.

"Thanks! So we can leave now?" I asked desperate to get home.

My mom sighed and grinned at the same time, "Yes, Max. We can go home now."

"Thank God," I muttered under my breath and my mom, Ella and Nudge all smirked and exchanged looks. I just rolled my eyes.

_(LINE BREAK)_

**Day of Winter Formal**

I sat nervously on my bed biting my finger nails, checking my phone every few seconds. Not gonna lie, I was really nervous for the dance tonight, and for Gordon. We went to YogenFruz last week and it was really fun, and thankfully not that awkward. Let me tell you, this kid was hilarious. The dance went from 7-10:30 and we were meeting at Nudge's before to take pictures, grab some snacks and hang out for a while. We were heading over there at around 5:15 or so, and we were leaving to head to the school at 6:45ish. After the dance we had reservations for an Italian restaurant uptown. I decided I was somewhat bipolar. I was super excited to go, but at the same time super nervous. Is that bipolar? Or maybe they could just invent a new disorder and diagnose me. I was doomed.

Ella knocked on my door, and I was about to tell her to come in, but she came in anyway. Why knock if you're not gonna let me answer! Geez, people these days…

"Max! Ready to start getting ready?" she exclaimed grinning from ear to ear. Had I heard her right? Start getting ready? It was 3:15, if it took me 2 hours to get ready I was going to be incredibly ticked.

I just stared at her blankly, my mouth almost dropping open in shock. I spend around 30 minutes getting ready in the morning. I brush my hair, put on some clothes and eat some food. Done. How could I possibly need 2 hours to get ready?

"Max. You're gonna need more time than you think. Just go get in the shower and I'll start getting stuff ready. Okay?"

"Yes sir," I replied giving a firm salute as I went to grab some sweats and a towel. She rolled her eyes and went to get a variety of hair and face products that I had never known existed.

I let the hot water stream through my hair, and over my shoulders. It was calm and relaxing in here. Ella had given me some of her shampoo and conditioner to supposedly make my hair softer, smoother and shinier, according to the purple font on the bottle. I had to give her credit on her shampoo choice because it smelled freaking amazing. Once I was done, I quickly dried off and then threw on a pair of baggy sweats and a cut-out shirt to get ready.

"Okay let's get this show on the road," Ella chirped. She looked beyond excited, God knows why. I know I sure wasn't. She towel dried my hair, and put a squirt of nice smelling lotion stuff into it to make it extra smooth and soft. Then she plugged in a hair dryer and started blowing my hair dry. She ran her fingers through it in an attempt to speed up the process. I quietly hummed along to Take A Little Ride by Jason Aldean. My sister had unfortunately gotten me hooked on country music. The phrase _I'm just ready to drive this Chevy, and drive this Chevy down a little back road. Slide your pretty little self on over, get a little closer, turn up the radio _was stuck in my head. The guitar part to this song was awesome, and I was determined to learn it and sing along while I played.

I glanced at my phone and had a message from Fang. Fang was taking Marian, who was gorgeous, hilarious and super sweet. They were old friends and I wasn't sure if they were going as friends or dates, but I was happy for him.

_Blahhhhhhhh- Fang_

_Haha you sound so excited, at least you don't have Ella making you get ready now!-me_

_You're already getting ready?!- Fang_

_Yeah…Ella's insane-me_

"Hey!" I hadn't noticed Ella reading my messages over my shoulder. Oops. I couldn't help smirking. "You know you could ready without me."

We both laughed knowing how lost I'd be with all the bottles and styles and my amazing fashion sense.

"Good one Ella," I muttered still smiling. My phone buzzed.

_You loser. I was gonna have you over for an hour before we had to get ready-Fang_

_You know I'd rather be anywhere else right now!-me_

_True dat Max-Fang_

_You know it broski…well I better go before Ella changes her mind and cuts out all my hair instead. I wouldn't put it past her. Call me when you leave and we'll go together. –me_

_Good plan.-Fang_

After about another 35 minutes, Ella had miraculously managed to produce my wild mane of hair into a masterpiece. How she did it remains a mystery. I glanced in the mirror, and the top layer of my hair was gathered to one side, and fell down past my shoulder in big loose curls. The under layer was also curled, and I had to admit, it looked gorgeous. And let me tell you I never think hair is gorgeous, let alone pretty.

I kinda spaced out for a while, and hummed One More Night under my breath as Ella did her makeup magic on my face. I realized I was starting to get nervous about Gordon, and the dance and everything. For some reason Fang kept popping into my mind, just calm and reassuring as always, but why? I mean I liked Gordon, maybe it's just nerves. You know, hormones. Anyway Ella had finished applying make-upy stuff to my face, and I was free to look in the mirror.

I could barely recognize myself. Let me tell you, that's a good thing. My face was completely even and smooth, tan and clear. My eyes had the tiniest bit of silver eye liner, but somehow she managed to bring out my usually boring brown eyes. They had lots of different shades of brown that hadn't been there. My eyelids had a small amount of a neutral eye shadow, but enough that you could tell it was there. My eyelashes were beautifully long, but not clumpy or too thick. The black matched the silver eyeliner perfectly. I honestly couldn't be happier. My lips were coated in a simple lip gloss (spearmint flavor of course), and my face broke into a huge grin.

I jumped up, and hugged Ella. She seemed surprised for a second, but then she hugged me back hard. "Thanks Ells! This honestly looks amazing! I love it!"

"Aw yeah of course Max! It's so you! You look absolutely GORGEOUS by the way!" she said her face lighting up.

"Thanks," I blushed and looked up into the mirror again, and I couldn't help but smile. She was right, it was just so me. I glanced down, and my phone said 4:15. It had taken me an hour to do all that. I mean they do say "time flies when you're having fun…" I had about 45 minutes until Fang and I were heading out. So, as any reasonable person would do, I watched Dark Knight. With the Joker, you know Heath Ledger, and Morgan Freeman as Fox. And of course Christian Bale for Bruce/Batman. This is my favorite movie in the whole world. No joke, I've seen it around 8 times, and I can quote it and I used "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain," for an English essay. I watched for around 30 minutes then decided I better get dressed.

I slipped the blue dress on, and stepped into my silver heels. They were silver, kinda shimmery and 3 inch pumps. I didn't care much for them, but Ella said they completed the outfit, so whatever. It was 5:00 and I was officially ready to go. Fang and I were getting a ride with my mom, and his parents would meet us over at Iggy's. According to Fang, Iggy had a thing for Ella, but he asked this gorgeous girl, Paige, to homecoming and she had said yes. Apparently since Ells was still in middle school it'd be weird if they went together, and it wasn't even allowed. Not that I wanted her there or anything. Anyways, it would be Paige and Iggy, Fang and Marian, me and Gordon, and Ben and Alexis. I think that was it. Well of course Nudge and Ella were coming for a little while to take pictures and all that.

"Max! Time to get Fang!" a warm voice called from the kitchen.

"Ok! Coming!" I called back, in a very un-Max-like response and grabbed my silver purse and slowly walked down stairs, praying I wouldn't fall.

I heard a gasp, "Max," my mom breathed out. "You look beautiful. Oh my goodness." She looked sad for a second, and then smiled. "Gordon's a very lucky guy."

I blushed as Ella came up, and announced that she needed to take a picture of my mom and me before we left. My mom was in a simple black dress, it was casual but cute, and looked effortless. I was insanely jealous of my mom's natural good looks, and how young she looked at her age. Ella, who had transformed herself while I had been watching The Dark Knight, was wearing a black pencil skirt with a flowy silver shirt tucked in, with a necklace hanging down the front. She looked herself, effortlessly adorable. Then Ella and I took a picture together.

"Yo," an incredibly familiar voice said creeping up behind me. I spun around.

"Fang!" I said excited and I went over and gave him a hug. Just a best friend hug, in case you were wondering. He was wearing a black jacket, with a white shirt and grey tie. He had on matching pants and shoes. He looked very attractive in his fancy get out.

"Max, you look beautiful," he said quietly and I was the only one that heard him.

I blushed deeply and looked at the ground. "Thanks. You clean up pretty nicely too," I said with a smile. He grinned at me.

"You ready to get going soon?" he asked and I nodded.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Max and Fang! Omg! You guys NEED a picture! Like ASAP!" Ella squealed coming over with her turquoise camera.

Fang and I put our arms around each other and Ella snapped a few photos. "You two should have gone together, this is sooo adorable," I heard Ella mutter under her breath. She seemed truly awestruck.

"Well we better hit it guys," my mom said, thankfully breaking the awkward silence. Thank you mom. We all hopped into our car and drove over to Iggy's house, where he and Ben were waiting outside with Alexis. Fang and I got out and went over to our friends.

"Hey Max! Hey Fang!" Alexis grinned, and waved. She was so down to earth, and sweet all the time. "Oh my gosh! Max you look amazing! I love your dress!"

"Hey Alexis! Iggy! Ben! Thanks Alexis! But you look sooo gorgeous!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah you don't have to tell me I look gorgeous too Max, I already know it," Iggy said with a grin.

"Oh thanks Ig, I was just about to tell you," I said casually shoving him. He laughed.

"Max, watch it. I ironed this thing all morning."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm sure you did. It wouldn't surprise me one bit, actually."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Iggy pretended to be hurt by my comment.

"Shut up Ig," I said laughing. "Look, your date's here. Go greet her like a gentleman." He bounded off the steps, adding a little spin-o-rama for affect after the last stair. I laughed, only Iggy.

Paige and Marian, Fang's date, got out of the car. And another car followed and Gordon got out too. He looked nervous, in his black jacket with a white shirt and royal blue tie to match my dress. This sounds shallow, but he looked really hot too. I walked over to meet him and his face lit up and we both grinned.

"Hey Max," he said still smiling.

"Hey Gordon," I replied so excited. I saw Fang walk over to go say hi to Marian, but I could feel his eyes watching me even as he was talking to Marian, Paige and Iggy. I gave Gordon a hug, and it was really cute. He had his corsage in his hand, and my boutonniere was in my purse, which I had left on the porch.

"I left my purse on the porch, it has your boutonniere in it," I mentioned a little embarrassed but he just laughed.

"Come on, let's grab it and then I can corsage you, if that's what it's called." We walked over together, and I saw Ella follow us and snap a few more pictures of us from behind. I just smirked and continued walking. He had a flower with blue, indigo and violet in it, and surprisingly it complemented by dress perfectly. He pinned the flower onto my dress, and I grinned as it matched perfectly. He put his arm around me and I put mine around his waist as we saw Ella motion for us to take a picture. One of the reasons Gordon had stuck out to me since we'd moved here, was his adorable smile. He had one of the greatest smiles on Earth. Right after Fang though, when he actually gave a real smile, whose grin made the Sun stop in its tracks, and caused everything to seem better. But unlike Fang, in a good way, Gordon smiled all the time and I loved being around people who were just naturally happy.

"You guys are so freaking adorable! I'm so jealous!" Ella squealed walking away to go grab a Dr. Pepper from the cooler under the table on the porch. I noticed Fang's eyes practically glued to my back as Gordon and I talked and sat together, and got a few more pictures. What was his deal tonight? I mean he had an absolutely gorgeous and sweet date, and I had a date but he kept watching me and tensing up whenever Gordon put his arm around me. I didn't get it.

However, before I got to do anymore thinking on this subject, it was already time for us to start heading over to the school and get to the dance. By the time we got to the dance, it was around 6ish, and we stood in the line that ran out the door, and down the sidewalk along the street just to get into the gym.

"Dang, this is a pretty popular place," Iggy, of course, said approaching with Paige following. I noticed a group of kids a few people in front of us who I recognized in our grade. Colin, my new English buddy, turned around.

"Hey Max! Hey Gordon! Hey Iggy and Fang! What's up guys!"

"Hey Colin!" a variety of voices called back. He waved and then motioned to his friends, turning back around. He and Lauren were going together, and Lauren wasn't in any of my classes, but I'd seen her around. Then Fang and Marian came over to stand by us and the four of us started talking as we slowly moved forward in the line, coming closer and closer to the doors.

Unfortunately, since it was December, I was freezing in just my dress and heels, and my teeth were chattering loudly, and I was shaking a little bit.

"Here," Gordon said taking his jacket off and placing it around my shoulders. "Better?"

I stopped shaking a little from the warmth of his jacket and nodded. "Thanks a lot," I replied and he just smiled. His smile was so freaking cute, I couldn't help but smile myself. I noticed Marian and Fang making some small talk about school, but I noticed neither of them seemed very comfortable, which seemed strange since they were old family friends. It seemed to be an hour later, but in reality was only 10 minutes, but we were finally admitted into the school and to the dance.

"Here we go," I heard Iggy yell from behind me. Gotta love him.


	11. FRESHMAN 10

My first thought of the dance was that it was very hot and crowded looking. It was in the school cafeteria which has a connected area called the commons where you can kinda just go and chill after lunch. The actual cafeteria was the dance floor with a DJ and the commons was full of tables and heels that girls' had taken off because they wanted to dance.

Whoever came up with the name "Winter Formal" emphasis on the "Formal" was incredibly misguiding and pretty stupid because this dance was essentially another homecoming. For those of you have not had the wonderful pleasure of a homecoming dance, it's basically just crazy music played by a DJ, and a large amount of unsupervised grinding. This Winter Formal wasn't exactly like ballroom dancing which I had somewhat expected. However I guess this was the right dance, something I had been debating since we walked in, because Gordon, Fang and Iggy acted like this was totally normal and expected. Maybe this was just a Chicago thing. Whatever, I decided to just roll with it and Gordon took my hand and we went out onto the dance floor.

Normally, I'm not the dancing type, but since this was a new school, it was essentially a new start and I decided I didn't care what anyone thought about me and I was just gonna be me. Blow Me One Last Kiss by Pink was playing as we danced to the first song. Another great thing about Gordon, he was a great dancer and had a hilarious personality on the dance floor. They played a few popular songs that we all danced to, and even Fang who we all know is Mr. Personality, came and let loose and danced with us. Then they played Gangnam Style, by PSY, that crazy music video that has an awesome dance and is in some crazy language. Everyone went crazy and started doing the dance, because I mean come on, who doesn't know the Gangnam Style dance. I have to admit, Iggy was the best because he incorporated parts of the music video in, along with some of his own dance moves and everyone was laughing so hard.

Then the DJ decided to put a little spin, and played a slow song. All the girls went over to their dates, and they got into the slow dancing position. Does that have an official name? You know where the guy has his arms around the girl's waist, and the girl has her arms around his neck. Like in the movies where everyone's happy and dancing. Well if you don't know because you've never seen a princess movie, just know that you have had no childhood. Anyway he played around 4 slow, romantic songs, and Gordon and I danced to the first 3, and l leaned my head on his chest, and it felt kind of right. Then the DJ yelled to grab a new partner for this last slow dance song. Gordon looked a little surprised but then nodded and Fang came over and asked me to dance.

"May I ask you of this dance, Ms. Maximum Martinez?" he said taking a fake bow and using some crazy fake accent. I laughed and nodded, over-exaggerating my failed attempt at a courtesy. Fang smirked but then reached out his hand, and I took it and we took that pose I explained before. Sorry for all of those who haven't had a childhood, I'm not going to explain again, but you catch my drift.

We danced together for the last song, and I didn't even notice who Gordon had asked to dance. Fang seemed so calm and at ease right now I couldn't help but smile.

"What's so funny?" he teased looking down at me, smiling to myself.

"You seem so peaceful. It's weird," I joked back. He grinned back and then did a weird little embarrassed look to the ground. I ended up ignoring it because I didn't want to ruin the moment. I felt just as comfortable dancing with Fang as I had with Gordon. Almost a little more comfortable. Fang's arms were wrapped around me and they were strong and firm. They seemed impossible to break. We stepped in time perfectly together, and Fang had perfect rhythm. I guess all those years singing and playing guitar had managed him to keep a steady beat.

I looked over and saw that Ben and Alexis were still dancing together, as they had completely blown off the DJs comment to switch it up a little. I had to admit they were perfect together. Ben seemed so genuinely happy and was just smiling to himself; his blue eyes seemed far away. Alexis was just adorable because she was so much smaller then Ben who was around 6'1" and she was probably only 5'4". She was leaning her head on his chest, and his hands held her back close to him. If they ever break up, it would break my heart. They were that couple that everyone admired and adored. He asked her out to homecoming in a really cute way too. Since Alexis played volleyball and lacrosse, he had gotten her locker combination from someone and decorated her locker, and wrote "X-Marks the Spot" on a volleyball. He showed up at her locker after school when she was grabbing all her stuff. He had also brought a large bucket, full of sand. She had to then dig in the bucket of sand until she found the glass bottle, which had a note in it. Most guys just wrote WF with a question mark, or something simple. But Ben's note said "It's been my _goal_ for 4 years to take you to a dance. Winter Formal?" Then he had also happened to have a dozen roses for her. Honestly, how much sweeter can a couple get. I mean I loved how Gordon asked me to, but they were like that fairytale you always hear about, but never see come true.

After about an hour of dancing, I told Gordon and Fang I was going to run to the bathroom and then outside to call my mom and tell her around 10:15 was good to pick us up, since it'd be over at 10ish. I went to go stand outside because the air in the cafeteria was so stuffy I could barely breathe, and as gross as it sounds, I was sweating a lot from the heat and exercise. I didn't hear or see anyone else outside, and I slipped my shoes off and set them against the door and walked over by some trees to call my mom. But then a lot of things happened at once.

First, I noticed that a gang of about 3 or 4 big guys, maybe 18 or so appear out of nowhere, and circle around me. I hate where dresses because I feel so vulnerable in them, not being able to move fast or efficiently. Anyways, I tried to scream for help, but as soon as my mouth opened one of the burly guys smacked a hand over my mouth. I decided I was going to rely on the element of surprise and give it a minute, or at least 45 seconds before I took some action. I pretended to struggle for 30 seconds, and then I swung my elbow around in a fast jerk movement and took one of the guys out. I heard loud gasp as he made that oh so attractive fish out of water face as he rapidly, and unsuccessfully I might add, tried to take in oxygen. I spun around fast and did a low kick and the knees on another one of my unknown attackers went out and he collapsed.

But remember how I said a lot of things happened at once, yeah well while I was trying to hold my one against these fat bastards, a black car had driven up and 2 more guys had hopped out, and replaced the two that I had knocked unconscious. I also noticed that the two guys who had come out of that car had come from the back seat, so that meant that at least one more must be in the front: the driver.

I hadn't given up yet, but I was starting to lose hope as the last 2 men joined the gang. I kept thrashing around, trying to get a good kick or punch in, but it was getting to be impossible. They had such a tight grip on me I could hardly move. I'm much stronger than the average freshman girl, and possibly the average freshman boy. But these men were much stronger than an average college guy, and probably on steroids and who knew how many other kinds of drugs. I wasn't sure what they wanted me for, but I sure as hell knew I didn't want to find out.

It felt like I'd been struggling for at least 2 hours, but in reality it was probably only around 7 or 8 minutes. I was about to lose consciousness completely, when I heard doors slamming and feet running. I couldn't register who the voices belonged to, but I heard someone yelling "MAX!?" Then I heard another voice, more familiar but I still couldn't tell who it was. "Max?!" and then quieter, "Where did she go?" The voices seemed very far away, but I wasn't sure if that was due to the fact that I was in a half subconscious state, or if they really were far.

"Oh shit Fang." I heard the first voice say, and then I knew it was Gordon and the other was Fang. They must've come looking for me since I'd been gone for quite some time. I heard the footsteps grow closer as they must've seen me and these huge guys despite the darkness.

They must have detected some sort of motion censored lights because as they approached lights flashed on and they could see me surrounded.

"Get them?" Gordon asked.

"Get them," Fang replied sounding deadly.

"God not Max," they both whispered at the same time.

They came at us and guys looked a little worried with two insanely pissed and scared guys came running at them. They reached us and started whaling on these huge guys, who weren't as strong as they looked. The two Fang and Gordon got to first were laying on the ground, and there were 4 more guys grabbing me. I wanted to try to take some more out, but I had no strength left and was still trying to remain awake. I saw Fang, looking almost deranged, take a fast swing and caused the guy's jaw to smash, and his hands instantly cupped his face. Blood poured from his mouth and he fell to the ground. Out of the corner of my other eye I saw Gordon take a blow to the gut, but he kept on punching. He got his guy in the throat and the guy's eyes bulged as he fell over too, gasping for air. Now, with one guy left, Fang spun around and kicked him in the chest with all his anger, momentum and power and the guy tipped like a tree that had just been cut down. I had fallen to the ground as the guys had been taking down by my two best friends.

"Max," Fang breathed as he knelt down beside me.

"Can you hear me?" Gordon whispered, kneeling at my other side.

"What?" I asked and tried to sit up. They both smiled in relief as they watched me. "I feel kinda weird. Like dizzy or something."

"Oh my gosh, you're arm…" Gordon choked out, his face drawn and tight, looking so much different from when we had just been dancing together only 20 minutes earlier.

Fang turned so he could see it and his eyes narrowed, and he looked scary again. "Those bastards are gonna pay."

I looked to what they were making such a big deal about, and then gasped as I saw this huge gash in my arm, blood seeping into the grass from it. I hadn't even realized it, but when I looked around, I saw one of the men held a knife in his hand, that appeared to be covered in my blood. My arm was so cold I couldn't feel the pain, but I was afraid I would need stitches or something. I had lost a decent amount of blood already.

"At least there's no blood on my dress," I said trying to break the awkward silence which had fallen between the three of us.

"We need to get to you to the hospital," Fang said sounding determined. "And contact your mom, Max."

"I'll call 9-1-1. Fang you call her mom," Gordon replied sounding calm as usual but his face was pale and panicked.

"Right." Fang whipped out his phone and dialed my mom, who was saved into his contacts as ICE (in case of emergency). I guess this kinda qualified as an emergency.

"Hi, Ms. Martinez. It's Fang. Max got attacked by some guys when she came outside to call you. She's beat up and has a huge gash in her arm from a knife we think. Gordon's calling an ambulance. Do you want to meet us at the hospital?" Fang said speaking really fast, barely able to get his words out.

He nodded and then hung up, after he said a quick thanks and good bye.

"Your mom will meet us at the hospital Max."

"Hi. Yes. I need an ambulance. My girlfriend was attacked by we think a gang, outside of the highschool. It's the Winter Formal tonight. Yes. Yes. No. Yes I'm here with her and her best friend. Her name is Maximum Martinez. Yes, her mom is meeting us at the hospital. She has a huge slice in her arm from a knife and it's bleeding like crazy. Yes please. Right away. Thank you. Bye," Gordon hung up and sat down next to me, and put an arm around my shoulders.

"It's okay Max," he whispered. I nodded.

"Thanks. To both of you guys. I don't know what they would have done with me if you hadn't come out." Fang was pacing looking stricken, which was so unusual because he normally showed no emotion, and remained so composed all the time. He looked so upset, and I realized that he'd left his girlfriend and the dance and most of his friends to come find me. I was so lucky to have a boyfriend like this and the best friend anyone could have. They were both so sweet and they really cared about me.

Fang came over and sat down really close. "I'm sorry Max. Are you okay?" he asked earnestly.

"Yeah. Really. Thanks for coming for me and ditching everything else."

"Of course. Why would I not come?" he replied sweetly. Gordon sat next to me silently, and I wondered if it bothered him that my best friend was a guy too. He never showed that and I hoped it didn't because I would never ditch Fang for anyone. He was my best friend and no one could break us apart. Just then, an ambulance pulled into the school parking lot, and Gordon scooped me up and carried me over to the bus and Fang went to go talk to the paramedics.

"What is your relation to Ms. Martinez?" a black medic asked holding a clipboard. "Are you the boyfriend?"

"No. I'm Fang Ride. I'm her best friend and neighbor."

"Okay Mr. Ride, you may ride in the ambulance with Ms. Martinez and if you could maybe you could help provide some information to Alex, he's hooking up Max to the monitors in the back now."

"Sure. Her boyfriend can ride with us too right?"

"Yeah. Well we better get going. Hop in the back," he said, and walked off to get in the driver's seat.

I was hooked up to some equipment, and then laid down on this stretcher thing. I'm pretty sure I passed out after that, and I'm not too sure what happened.

I woke up laying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a few IVs and with a huge bandage on my arm from my shoulder to my wrist. Was the knife cut really that long? I mean it was dark last night and I was kinda out of it but I didn't think it was that bad. I started to register things now that I was waking up, and I must have been put on some sleep medication if they had to go into surgery. I sat up and got kinda light-headed but the 3 chairs in my hospital room were full. Man am I popular or what? But the chairs had my mom, who was the only awake. Fang and Gordon were out cold in the other two, on either side of my bed.

"Hi Max," my mom said getting up and coming over stand by me.

"Hi mom. Um what time is?" I asked completely disoriented.

"Hi sweetie. It's around 8am. You got stitches on your arm, and Gordon and Fang have been here since you got here. Both their mom's showed up to bring them home but they both refused to leave. Molly Ride stayed and talked with me a while."

"Oh wow. What's the deal with my arm?" I asked. Wow. I can't believe they stayed all night just for me. I mean there's really nothing special about me. I noticed a few cards and flowers on the table with a balloon.

"Well, they are sure it was knife by the way the cut was. It was around 9 inches long, and pretty deep, but thankfully no muscle tissue was damaged and it'll be okay. You have about 50 stitches in your left arm at the moment, and you're coming back in around 2 weeks to get them out. But you have to wear that bandage thing until then and probably for at least a week or 2 after to make sure it heals up, alright." I nodded. Man this was gonna suck. Thankfully though, it was a moveable bandage cast thing so I could still sing, and hopefully play guitar.

"We have a gig next weekend. I can still do it right? It's our Christmas one and we might do part of it in Kaylie's honor," I said worried.

"Yeah of course you can. You're out of gym though for at least a month," she replied with a smile, and I breathed out relieved. "Oh, and good news. Jeb and Ari are coming for Christmas. I knew they wanted us to go visit them, but I also knew how much you and Ella want to be here for your first Christmas with all your friends," she gestured to the two sleeping boys at my sides and I blushed. "And they all want you to be here too, so your father has agreed to come out, but we're figuring out the dates along with when you all get let out for Winter Break."

My face lit up. At first I was begging for my dad to let us come out there for Christmas, and then stay there. But now that I'd made such close friends, I loved it here almost better than I had loved St. Louis. Jeb, I still refuse to refer to him as dad, lives out in Colorado with Ari. I loved Ari though. He was the sweetest, most adorable kid and he had such a hard life, between his parents being gone and everything. I was glad I'd get to see him and I knew he'd love Fang and Gordon. And Iggy of course because everyone couldn't help but love his great personality.

"Great. Maybe they can come to see out Christmas gig this weekend? Or is that too soon? And just out of curiosity, who's all this stuff from?" I asked looking at the table with cards, flowers, candy and balloon.

"Ella and Nudge got you flowers, Iggy got you the balloon and some candy. And Ben and Alexis dropped off more cards and candy last night when they heard about everything. Oh, and some kid named Colin dropped off a card too," she explained. I grinned. Of course Nudge and Ella got the flowers, and Iggy had to have gotten the balloon.

"Aww, that was so sweet of everyone," I said smiling still. Then I grimaced as some pain was starting to return to my arm.

"Yeah it was. You have great friends Max. You're very lucky," she replied taking a sip form her Diet Coke. I nodded and she noticed that my hurt arm was being cradled by my other arm.

"Is it hurting again? Max tell me the truth, you don't need to be tough all the time," her brown eyes wide and pleading for an honest answer.

I waited for a few seconds, "More than before. The painkillers are wearing off."

She nodded, "Why don't you try to get some more sleep honey. You seem exhausted and sleep will help the other medicines to take into effect." I agreed, and then laid my head down on the pillow, surprising myself by almost instantly drifting to sleep.

**Hey guys! Here's another chapter. Figured I could post two today since I didn't have school. Please review! I have some ideas but I'm not really sure where I wanna take this story yet. Don't worry FAX is coming eventually. Ideas? Please RnR! Thanks to everyone who's following my story and reviewing and reading!**


	12. FRESHMAN 11

-It'd been a week since the Winter Formal. That also meant it'd been a week since I'd been attacked. And stabbed. And brought to the hospital. But it also meant that I was home from the hospital and had been back at school Thursday and Friday. Everyone had asked me if I was okay and what had happened. I thought it was funny how most of those people had never talked to me, until I had gotten hurt. Ironic right? Just a little. Anyway, the Flock had a concert today. It was the concert dedicated to Kaylie, and we'd changed the Christmas concert until Christmas Eve. Yesterday was the last day of school this year, so we had 2 or 3 weeks off. We weren't going anywhere, but Ari and Jeb were coming tonight. I was so excited, not having seen them for months. Hopefully they would make it to the concert tonight. It was our benefit concert, so it was going to be really sad. It was dedicated towards Fang's sister, but we were also going to sing some songs for child abuse, like Blown Away by Carrie Underwood or maybe Concrete Angel. We weren't really sure yet.

Gordon was coming tonight, and it was his first concert and if Jeb and Ari could make it I wanted to do really well. I was going over to Fang's in a few hours to run through everything, and make sure I could sing and play guitar with my cast and everything still.

"Hello?" My phone buzzed and I grabbed it off my dresser.

"Hi sweetie. It's your father. How are you?" Jeb asked through the phone. I was honestly kinda surprised he bothered calling since I hadn't talked to him for a few weeks and he was coming tonight.

"I'm doing good. When are you and Ari coming?" I asked still so excited. Everything, well besides some things, was finally going right. I had moved, which ended up turning out great, and Ari and Jeb were coming to visit. I had great friends, a great boyfriend and a great best friend. And a band too. How much better could it get?

"Hopefully we'll be there this afternoon. Our flight lands at 3:15, and then we'll drive out to your place by around 4 or so. Do you have plans tonight, Max?" he said sounding warm and father-like again.

"Actually, my band has a concert tonight. We're making this our benefit concert and collecting donations, and part of the concert is dedicated to Fang's sister who passed away last month in a car accident. Did mom tell you about my band? You know Fang right?" I asked, trying to remember what my dad even knew about my life, now that we were so far away.

"Of course I know Fang, and your band. The Flock right? Your mother was telling me about it last week. She also mentioned what happened to your arm? I tried calling last weekend, but you were asleep most of the time or at the hospital. How are you?" He seemed so concerned it made my heart fill with happiness, seeing him actually care about something other than his work for a change.

"Better. Well it was pretty bad before, but Gordon and Fang basically saved me. Do you know Gordon?"

"I think your mom mentioned him, but she didn't elaborate much…" He trailed off, inviting me to explain.

"Oh, well he's my boyfriend and we went to Winter Formal together, and he and Fang got me to the hospital and stayed there with me all night and stuff…" I ended the sentence awkwardly since the whole conversation of telling my dad about my new boyfriend was a little weird. He wasn't too excited about me dating again after the whole Dylan experience since he knew how upset I was.

"Right. Well that sounds good. I'd like to meet Fang and Gordon sometime while I'm here. Will they be around at this concert tonight? Ari and I will definitely be able to go," he explained and I could hear Ari coloring pictures in the background and I grinned. He was such a good little kid, especially considering everything.

"Yeah. Fang's in the band with me. He's the lead guitarist and other lead singer. And Gordon said he'd definitely be there, so feel free to meet them both," looking through my closet for an outfit suitable for the concert. Never mind that, Ella could find something in a heartbeat, I'm sure. And she could do my hair. And makeup.

"Okay honey. Well our limo's here to take us to the airport. See you tonight. Good luck if I don't see you before you go on tonight," he said and I nodded, even though I knew he couldn't see me.

"Yeah, have a good flight," I answered and then hung up. Humming Carrie Underwood's new song, Cowboy Casanova, under my breath, I went downstairs in search of Ella.

"Ella!" I called taking the stairs two at a time, since I'm just cool like that.

"Yeah Max?" her cute voice called from the basement.

"I don't have clothes for the concert tonight."

"Woah. Woah. Woah. Hold up," she said skipping up the stairs.

"Yesss," I waited for her to get to the top.

"You, Maximum Martinez, are _asking_ me for fashion advice. Like I'm not forcing this upon you. You're asking, yourself?" She asked in a question almost as she wasn't fully aware of the situation.

I sighed and rolled my eyes nodding. "Yes Ella. But I'm not exactly _asking_ it's more, of a telling you to do it or you're gonna get your ass kicked."

She grinned and continued skipping up the stairs to her room in search of clothes, and I followed her. Well not the skipping thing, but you catch my drift. I waited around in her room as she dug through her closet, throwing different assortments of clothes and shoes out after her. I hadn't realized until now how much clothing this kid actually owned. Like geez Louise, she could fill Good Will if she donated all her clothes. Just saying, since I have like enough clothes to fill a cardboard box. A small cardboard box.

"Okay Maxie," she called laughing. I didn't budge but gave her my death glare and her smile dropped instantly, and she corrected herself. "I mean, okay Max my fun-loving and awesome sister."

"That's better," I replied walking over through her pig-sty of clothes everywhere. She had three outfits lying on the floor.

"Thoughts?" she asked and I studied them all for a minute, deciding which to wear.

The first was a peplum top; I think that's what it's called. The one that's normal then poofs out ya know towards the middle. Since I don't like clothes that much, especially not poufy clothes, this was instantly eliminated, even though the boots were really cute. Oh and when I say I don't like clothes, that doesn't mean I like to run around naked or something. That's just weird. And pretty gross too. I mean if I could, I would wear leggings and a T-shirt like every day. Something like that. The next outfit had a pencil skirt in it, and since we know how much I adore pencil skirts it was also immediately eliminated. Apparently Ella didn't know my style as well as I thought. Then the last outfit caught my eye, and I had to admit it wasn't too bad. I mean I didn't love it, but when do I ever love something. Well besides my mom's absolutely amazingly fantastically delicious homemade chocolate cookies. I swear, I could live off those things. No joke.

"Well I refuse to wear either of the first two because it's a skirt or peplum shirt. Peplum shirts are poufy. I don't wear poufy things. So third outfit it is," I explained. Ella nodded and grabbed the outfit off the floor.

"It's unusually warm today for December so you shouldn't need a jacket even though this is short-sleeved. You should be fine," Ella decided looking for a necklace to pull together the outfit I picked. "Here." She handed me the shirt, pants, necklace and boots and told me to go change in the bathroom while she decided how she was gonna do my hair.

I changed quickly and then came out of the bathroom. The shirt was white and short sleeved. But the top part of the sleeves was cut-out so there was an oval-shape missing. The shirt wasn't fitted, and it had some room. It was kinda flowy, but not really. I was wearing a pair of black leggings that were tucked into black riding boots. The boots went about ¾ the way up to my knee, and had a silver buckle around the ankle. They zippered up on the inside of my legs. I had on a silver heart necklace that was long, and went about halfway down my chest. She ran her straightener over my hair really quick to take out a few kinks. My hair was now pretty straight, and she braided a small section of the front part back to keep it out of my face. She put a light coat of mascara on lashes, and then declared me ready to go.

(LINE BREAK)

I was standing behind stage, and I could feel my hands sweating a little, despite the cool December air. Thankfully, Ella had been right and it was a decent temperature, especially for this time of year. I was nervous for this concert, which was surprising since we'd had 3 or 4 concerts total so far. I guess it was because Gordon and Jeb and Ari were here, and I wanted to impress them. A lot. Especially Jeb since he never saw me, and I didn't want to embarrass myself. All of a sudden, Fang came up and put his hands on my shoulders and I felt immediately better.

"You'll do great Max, you always do," he whispered, a piece of stray hair tickling my ear from his breath. He stood there for a few more seconds, and then Ben motioned for us to get ready to go.

"Hi ladies and gentlemen. First of all happy holidays," Fang's clear voice boomed through the microphone. "Tonight we have 4 songs for you, and 3 are dedicated to our child abuse awareness. If you were unaware, this gig tonight is raising money for child abuse awareness and we are collecting donations to give to different societies or charities. Anything we collect is very appreciated. Our final song is dedicated to my older sister Kaylie, who was my role model. She was killed in a car crash last month and the last song is in her honor. Without further ado, the Flock's first song is Blown Away, by Carrie Underwood. Let's give it up for Max."

I smiled at Fang, and he gave me a sad sort of broken smile. I knew it was hard for him to remember everything about his sister, but this concert was his idea and we all completely backed him up on it. Child abuse is terrible and we wanted to help in any way we could.

I took a breath, and held the microphone up towards my face.

_Dry lightning cracks across the skies, _

_Those storm clouds gather in her eyes. _

_Her daddy was a mean old mister. _

_Mamma was an angel in the ground. _

_The weather man called for a twister, _

_She prayed blow it down. _

_There's not enough rain, in Oklahoma, _

_To wash the sins out of that house. _

_There's not enough wind, in Oklahoma,_

_To rip the nails out of the past. _

_Shatter every window til it's all blown away._

_Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away. _

_Til there's nothing left standing; nothing left of yesterday. _

_Every whiskey tear-soaked memory blown away. (Blown away)_

_She heard those sirens screaming out,_

_Daddy lay there passed out on the couch._

_She locked herself in the cellar,_

_Listened to the screaming of the wind._

_Some people call it taking shelter, _

_She called it sweet revenge. _

_Shatter every window til it's all blown away. _

_Every brick, every board, every slamming' door blown away._

_Til there's nothing left standing; nothing left of yesterday._

_There's not enough rain, in Oklahoma, _

_To wash the sins out of that house._

_There's not enough wind, in Oklahoma,_

_To rip the nails out of the past. _

_Shatter every window til it's all blown away._

_Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away. _

_Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away. (Blown away)_

_Blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away._

I faded out with the last pitch, and then finished the song. I was breathing, hard but I always was once I

finished with a song. The audience clapped, but it was a heartbreaking song, and I could hear change

being added to the donation bins. I couldn't see Gordon, or Jeb and Ari but that wasn't too surprising

since the park was packed.

"Thank you," I said smiling. "Fang's singing our next song, called Don't Believe Me. He's also playing

guitar too, so let's give it up for the amazing Fangalator." I teased Fang about it all the time, since at one

of our concerts where Iggy was introducing Fang, he called him Fangalator. I needed to lighten the mood

a teensy bit. I didn't want to completely ruin the holiday spirit.

Fang stepped up to the microphone, took a deep breath and then started the song.

"_Jimmy's walking home from school talking with his friend _

_But when they get to Jimmy's house he can't invite him in  
Jimmy says his mom's not well and tells his friend good-bye  
He keeps a secret as he slowly walks inside _

_Cause Mom's been drinking and right now she doesn't care  
About this awful burden her child must bear, he's begging _

_Please don't believe me when I say I'm ok  
Look a little deeper for the words that I can't say  
I'm too small to stand alone, I sure could use a friend  
Help me learn to trust someone again  
Don't leave me  
Please don't believe me _

_There's a house that's dark and quiet where little Amy sleeps  
There's footsteps in the bedroom where someone shouldn't be  
Somebody whispers I'll hurt you if you tell  
Amy keeps the secret and blames it on herself, her smile is just a shell _

_Please don't believe me when I say I'm ok  
Look a little deeper for the words that I can't say  
I'm too small to stand alone, I sure could use a friend  
Help me learn to trust someone again  
Don't leave me  
Please don't believe me _

_Oh the years fly by for the ones who survive  
Til they look like grown-ups, and nobody hears them  
Nobody hears them cry._

_Please don't believe me when I say I'm ok Look a little deeper for the words I can't say I'm too small to stand alone, I could sure use a friend Help me learn to trust someone again Don't leave me Please don't leave me."_

Fang lowered the microphone, and slowly walked backwards fading into the darkness. The way Fang sang that song gave me chills. Not even kidding, he had an amazing voice especially for this song. I was up again to sing Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. This song had left me in tears after the first time I'd heard it, while watching the music video. We were debating about showing it, but had decided against it since it was so sad.

"Okay. Thanks so much for all your donations. This is our last song for child abuse awareness tonight, called Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. So yeah, thanks."

I closed my eyes, starting the terribly depressing song, yet beautiful at the same time.

_She walks to school with the lunch she packed Nobody knows what she's holding back Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday She hides the bruises with the linen and lace, oh_

_The teacher wonders, but she doesn't ask It's hard to see the pain behind the mask Bearing the burden of a secret storm Sometimes she wishes she was never born _

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone In a world that she can't rise above But her dreams, give her wings and she flies to a place Where she's loved, concrete angel _

_Somebody cries in the middle of the night The neighbors hear but they turn out the light A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate When morning comes it will be too late_

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone In a world that she can't rise above But her dreams, give her wings and she flies to a place Where she's loved, concrete angel_

_A statue stands in a shaded place An angel girl with an upturned face A name is written on a polished rock A broken heart that the world forgot _

_Through the wind and the rain she stands hard as a stone In a world that she can't rise above But her dreams, give her wings and she flies to a place Where she's loved, concrete angel_

Thankfully I avoided crying through this song, even though I'd teared up the first time I rehearsed this with the guys. I was really nervous that I would tear up even more during this next time. It was the song Fang was singing in Kaylie's honor. The whole thing was just immensely sad especially since I knew how much Fang loved her.

"Okay guys this is our last song of the night. Um it's a song I wrote to honor my sister who was killed in a car accident a few months ago. So yeah, thanks for all the donations and thanks to everyone who could make it out tonight. Here we go," Fang explained the song. It was beautiful, and he was playing guitar for this song, but he was the only one. Normally Iggy and Ben would play drums and guitar or I would, but not now. This was all Fang.

_I know your life on earth was troubled  
And only you could know the pain  
You weren't afraid to face the Devil  
You were no stranger to the rain_

Go rest high on that mountain  
Son your work on earth is done  
Go to Heaven a shoutin'  
Love for the Father and the Son

Oh, how we cried the day you left us  
We gathered round your grave to grieve  
Wish I could see the angels' faces  
When they hear your sweet voice sing

So go rest high on that mountain  
Kaylie, your work on earth is done  
Go to Heaven a shoutin'  
Love for the Father and the Son

So go rest high on that mountain  
Kaylie, your work on earth is done  
Go to Heaven a shoutin'  
Love for the Father and the Son

Go to Heaven a shoutin'  
Love for the Father and the Son

I could see people in the audience crying, and I saw Fang's family crying, but smiling. They seemed so proud of him, and I was too. I knew how hard it was for him to do this, and I could tell he was trying not to cry. He was a rock though, and his face remained mostly emotionless. I had tears in my eyes, and when he looked over at me after the song was finished, his eyes were full of emotion, which was rare for him.

We walked back stage and I turned around and hugged Fang. He remained pretty stiff and motionless and first, very Fang-like, but then he actually hugged me back.

"That was awesome. I don't know if I could've done it if I were you," I admitted.

"Thanks," Fang muttered, still holding his guitar. I hadn't played much guitar at this gig partly because of our song selections, and partly because of my arm.

We walked around towards the front of the stage where we performed and I saw Jeb and Ari waiting, along with my mom and Ella.

"Hey Ari!" I called out and ran over, with Fang following close behind me.

"Max!" he cried and gave me a huge hug. Have I mentioned that this kid almost ties with Angel on the cuteness scale? He's adorable.

"How's it going buddy?" I asked grinning, and he gave me a high-five.

"Good. You're a good singer, Max."

"Aw thanks Ari. Have you met Fang?" I introduced Fang to Ari. My mom and Jeb were still in mid-conversation and well I'm just so polite when it comes to social skills.

"Hey big guy. I'm Fang. Max talks about you all the time. I hear you're pretty awesome," Fang was kneeling next to me and Ari. Ari broke out in a huge grin at this.

"Hi. I like him, Max," Ari turned to me and I laughed, and Fang smirked.

"He's kinda crazy, but he's my best friend. He even has a sister your age," I explained giving Fang a playful shove.

"Yup, her name's Angel. She's with my mom right now, but I'm sure she'd love to meet you! Maybe you can hang out with her while you're here," Fang was standing up now, but he bent down to give Ari a fist bump. It sorta surprised me how good Fang was with little kids. He was great with Angel and all, but sometimes he could be so closed off but it was a cool surprise.

Ari nodded enthusiastically, "Is he your boyfriend too? Are you gonna get married? I like him, so you can get married to him, Max."

Fang chuckled and I grinned. "Nope, he's just my best friend, but if you want we can get married." Ari giggled and nodded.

Jeb and my mom walked over. "Looks like you've introduced Fang and Ari," my mom said smiling warmly and Fang and I nodded.

"Hi Mrs. Martinez," Fang waved, looking up from Ari.

"Hey Fang, how's it going? That song you wrote was beautiful, by the way," my mom replied.

"Thanks, Max helped write parts of it," he explained, which was true. He did most of it, but I helped some.

"Hi Jeb," I said giving my "father" a hug. No matter how immature it was, I still refused to call him dad, or anything like that. He was Jeb, and that was that.

"Hey sweetie, how've you been?" he asked, all father-like again. The same way he was on the phone.

"Well my arms better, thanks to Fang and Gordon. But yeah, this is Fang. He lives across the street, my best friend…I'm sure you've heard about him," I explained and Fang immediately reached out his hand towards Jeb to shake. He was really polite and sweet, but fun too.

"Hi Fang, I never thanked you for helping Max that night at that dance. You really must care about her and I'm glad she has a friend like you," Jeb told Fang, and Fang nodded with a smile.

"Of course, I just wish I could've done something more."

Right then, Gordon walked up too, "Hey Max and Fang. That concert was awesome! Max you have an amazing voice. You too Fang, I really liked the song you wrote."

"Thanks," we both said at the same time and then we all laughed.

"Gordon, this is Jeb, my dad. Jeb this is Gordon, he took me to Winter Formal and he's my boyfriend," I explained and Gordon shook my Jeb's hand as well. I noticed Fang tense up, the slightest bit at the mention of him being my 'boyfriend' but it was hardly noticeable, and I only saw it since I knew Fang so well.

"I wanted to thank you as well, for helping Max and getting her help during that big disaster at the dance," Jeb explained.

"Yeah, I'm sorry the whole situation even happened in the first place. I'm just glad we were able to get Max some help right away," Gordon replied.

My parents made some small talk with the boys, but then Fang, Gordon and I walked around. We found Iggy and Ben talking with Ella near the stage, and we went over and joined them. We saw a stand selling lemon ice, and Fang and Gordon each bought me one, and Iggy bout one for Ella. Lucky me got to eat two, but I wasn't exactly sure why. I only had one boyfriend, right? Gordon had to leave because it was his dad's birthday, and he had skipped his family dinner, but wasn't allowed to skip their family night, as his parents called it to play games or watch movies with his brothers.

Ben had to leave to go babysit his sisters so his parents could go out, and then Iggy and Ella walked around together by themselves. I was pretty sure Iggy liked Ella, and I was also pretty confident that Ella liked Iggy as more than friends. So it was just Fang and I again, and sometimes it was better that way. We walked around for a few minutes, and then Fang stopped, at the base of a huge, sturdy tree. I was about to ask what he was doing, but then he grabbed a big branch near the bottom and hoisted himself up, and gradually reached a position where he was standing. I immediately followed, and Fang continued climbing up.

We reached one of the top branches and perched there, sitting alone in the night, feeling almost like birds. It was probably only 10, but it felt later because of the early approaching darkness, it had been dark for hours.

I smirked to myself, thinking about how different Fang and Gordon were from each other.

"What?" Fang asked, noticing the sly smile creeping across my face.

"It's just funny, you know me so well. Any other guy would've asked me a hundred times if I was okay, or if I needed help climbing up," I said with a slight smile.

"Yeah, well I was a little worried that if I did try to be a gentlemen, you might push me out of the tree," Fang and I both laughed, realizing that was most likely very accurate. Fang wouldn't think twice about me needing help. He knew me so well, and in so many cases, we were very similar.

"I don't ever want to leave here," I said somewhat suddenly.

"I'm sure some other people might feel differently…just kidding. I never want you to leave either. Were you planning on it?" Fang asked, changing his tone from sarcastic, to a little more serious.

"Well I tried to convince Jeb to let me stay and live out with him in Colorado or with all my old friends from St. Louis, and he said he'd look into it. But now, it turns out I fit in way better here anyway. I wouldn't want to move back," I tried explaining and Fang nodded.

"Don't ever leave Max." Those 4 words were simple, yet sure. I belonged here more than I did in St. Louis. I belonged with Fang, and the flock. Everything here was just more right. I could feel it already. Sitting next to Fang on the highest branch in the park, the wind blowing through our hair, was the most right I'd ever felt.


	13. FRESHMAN 12

"Dashing through the sand, with a bomb strapped to my back. I have a nasty plan, for Christmas in Iraq. I got through Checkpoint A, but not through Checkpoint B, because that's when I got shot in the ass by the US military. Ohhh," There was a long pause, partly for dramatic effect and partly for a breath. And the song continued, "jingle bombs, jingle bombs, mine blew up you see! Where all the virgins that Bin Laden promised me? Ohhh jingle bombs jingle bombs your soldiers shot me dead! Now all that I have left is this towel upon my head! I used to be a man, but every time I cough, thanks to Uncle Sam, my nuts keep falling off. My bombing days are done; I need to find some work. Perhaps it would much safer as a convenient store night clerk. Ohhh jingle bombs, jingle bombs, I think I got screwed. Don't laugh at me because I'm dead or I will kill you!"

I had been awakened on this wonderful Christmas morning by no other than Iggy singing his latest version of Jingle Bells. It was around 9:30, and apparently my mom had decided to let Fang and Iggy come over this morning despite, the ungodly hour. Fang rolled his eyes, and clapped for Iggy's benefit.

"Nice Ig, that's real talent," I proclaimed rolling out of bed, sitting on the covers next to Fang.

"Oh I know, don't worry I have more," he managed a somewhat evil sounding laugh and Fang just smirked.

"Merry Christmas," Fang whispered under the sound of Iggy's might I add, incredibly out of tune, singing.

I chuckled, "Thanks, you too. Well this is one way to spend Christmas morning." I was drowned out by the sound of Iggy advancing to his next version of Jingle Bells.

"Dashing through the sand, on a pair of broken skis, over the hills we go, crashing into trees. Ow-ow-ow. The snow is turning red, I think I'm almost dead, will someone please call 9-1-1 before I lose my head! Ohhh, jingle bells, jingle bells, Santa Claus is dead! Rudolph got a 22 and shot him in the head! Hey! Barbie doll, Barbie doll tried to save his life, but G.I. Joe and Mario, stabbed her with a knife!" Iggy finished the latest song and I couldn't help but snicker.

"Nice Christmas spirit you got there. Real happy," I said still snickering at his song, and Fang just rolled his eyes with his usual smirk.

"When did you two schemers decide to come over?" I asked standing up and putting my hair up in a messy bun.

"We slept here Max, didn't you know? On the floor, right underneath your bed," Iggy said in a completely normal voice, and my jaw dropped, but I immediately closed it.

"You what?" I nearly shrieked.

"Slept here," Iggy replied still matter-of-fact, and then he couldn't do it anymore and burst out laughing.

"Oh Max, you should've seen your face." He imitated me making his eyes wide and jaw dropping.

"Shut up Ig," I said calming down, my smile returning to his face. I turned to Fang, and he jokingly put his hands up in defense.

"We just came over, and we thought we should spend Christmas with our best friend so we showed up and your mom let us in. She and Jeb were having coffee at the counter when we got up," Fang explained under my death glare.

"Okay well great. Now what do you two morons want to do? Better be something good cause you woke me up," I replied. Iggy's stomach grumbled loudly and we all laughed, well Fang did his typical lopsided smile. Well actually, Fang never really full out laughs at stuff, so every time I saw 'we all laughed', just assume he does his cute little lopsided smile. I mean unless on the rare, yet awesome, occasion that Fang really laughs, I'll make sure to add that in. But back to the point, we were all starving. But come on, we're growing teenagers, when aren't we hungry?

With that, we flew down the flight of stairs to the kitchen where my mom and Jeb were seated drinking coffee from Christmas mugs.

"Morning Max. Merry Christmas," my mom said from her spot next to Jeb at the table. They appeared to have been having a relatively deep and important conversation that I'd interrupted, not that I really cared.

"Thanks you too," I said, our feet softly padding as we approached the counter.

"Glad Fang and Iggy knocked some sense into you and got you up," my mom replied with a chuckle. Fang smirked and Iggy snickered softly, while I just rolled my eyes.

"Yeah I was awakened to lovely Christmas music, coming from the one and only Iggy," I snorted and seated myself across from Jeb. Fang plopped himself into the seat next to me, and Iggy next to him. My mom brought over a plate stacked high with pancakes and bacon, and we all dug in.

"Come on, Max you know you loved my music," Iggy said finishing his second piece of bacon.

Fang smirked, "Yeah Max. Well you had to at least spend Christmas with your best friends. Besides we have presents for you."

"Okay fine, you guys are pretty great. But I told you not to get me presents!" I exclaimed a little surprised they had gotten me anything.

"Yeah, like you didn't get us anything either," Iggy replied rolling his eyes. Ella must have told Iggy, who told Fang. That little stinker.

"Okay fine. We'll do our presents later though," I finished my fourth pancake, and reached for some more. My mom sure was getting good at making enough food for the three of us.

"Speaking of presents Max, your mom and I have some presents for you and your sister as well, whenever you're ready. Where are Ella and Ari anyway, it's nearly 10." Jeb set his coffee down, and stood up, stretching as he did so.

As if on cue, a sleepy looking Ari stumbled into the kitchen, followed by a much perkier looking Ella.

"Merry Christmas!" Ella chirped happily, and then she saw Iggy and Fang sitting with me at the table and grinned. I wasn't sure if she was grinning at Fang and me sitting together, or Iggy sitting with an open chair next to him. Either way, she came over and sat down next to the Igster and grabbed a few pancakes.

"Hey Ari," I called to the tired looking kid. I don't think he even realized it was Christmas.

"Hi Max. It's your friend again!" He exclaimed happily, pointing up at Fang.

"Hey mister," Fang said giving Ari a lopsided grin. Ari happily jumped into the seat across from Fang, next to Jeb.

"This is Iggy, Ari. He's another one of my good friends. He's kind of a loser though," I said, pretending to whisper. Ari's face broke out in another happy smile.

Iggy just grinned huge, and looked to Ari. "You look pretty strong. I bet you're really tough, right?" Ari nodded, clearly flattered. Ella was still too busy eating, to join in the conversation yet.

Jeb seemed really pleased at how well Fang and Iggy were acting with Ari; they were almost like big brothers, or cousins to him. Even I thought it was a little cute.

"Hmm, how about presents now?" Jeb asked after everyone had been finished with breakfast for a while. Everyone was just sitting and talking, Fang and I making faces at each other to make Ari laugh. Ella and Iggy had been talking quietly between the two of them, but at Jeb's question, everyone looked up and nodded.

"My vote is cutest get to open their presents first, then ugliest go last," Iggy said with his usual light-hearted grin. "That means Ari, me, Max and Fang last."

Ari nodded excitedly, and Fang rolled his eyes looking amused. "How about youngest to oldest?" Fang questioned, bringing a much more rational view into mind.

Jeb nodded, and then started handing out gifts to Ari, Ella and me. Obviously he hadn't gotten Fang or Iggy anything since they'd just met. I hadn't even realized it, but the vase of flowers near the window, were from Fang (and Angel of course).

Jeb handed me a small box, about the size of a Blu-ray DVD, and I wondered what it is. Jeb was also incredibly wealthy, and he typically gave expensive gifts. He gave Ari a mound of boxes; all wrapped in different Christmas patterns, which seemed to be full of different toys. Ella received two decent sized boxes, and one softer package, all wrapped in similar papers to Ari's.

"These are from your mom and me together," Jeb announced. He put an arm around my mom's shoulders and they smiled at each other, clearly pleased by the gifts they had purchased.

"Your present is actually in the living room. It's from Iggy and me," Fang said but he didn't move, so I assumed he wanted me to open the other presents first.

"Yup, well it's mostly Fang, but from both of us. And Ben helped a little too," Iggy announced, handing a small package, poorly wrapped which made me smile, to Ella and she smiled at him.

"What are you guys waiting for? Open away," Jeb announced grinning from ear to ear. He must've wanted us to open them while Fang and Iggy were here, otherwise he wouldn't have been so persistent.

"Well, cutest first," Iggy said gesturing to Ari, but I saw him mouth sorry to Ella and she laughed.

Ari opened up all his gifts, and he received a large variety of toys, ranging from Legos, to Pokémon, to sports equipment to Wii games. I didn't know what most of toys even were, so I won't bother to describe them.

Onto the next cutest, by Iggy's opinion, Ella was up. She squealed as she opened her boxes. A pair of new Uggs, the grey tall ones with buttons up the side. I had to admit, as boots go, they weren't too bad. Then she pulled out two pairs of riding boots, one tan and one black. They were completely different styles, but in my humble opinion, they both suited her very well. She pulled out a pair of neutral colored Sperry's, and she looked beyond happy. She pulled out a few pairs of jeans, some colored, some regular and a few sweaters.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she squealed happily. She ran over and gave them each a hug.

"Le ugliest," Iggy said gesturing to me with a laugh. I rolled my eyes, what was I going to do with him.

I tore off the paper, and inside the box was something pretty impossibly insanely freaking awesome. Best thing I'd ever gotten as a gift, without a doubt. I know you want to know what I got, but I'll tell you. Eventually. Just hold your horses.

"Oh my god! Thank you dad!" I was so excited I had called Jeb, dad, for the first time in years. His face softened as I said that, and a satisfied look overcame his face. "You have no idea how excited I am!" And the best part was there was three of everything. What's everything you might ask? Okay, fine I'll tell you what I got for Christmas. The most awesomely amazingly perfect gift I could have ever thought of.

Three plane tickets to Salt Lake City, Utah. Three lift tickets for 5 days of skiing, valid at Snowbird, Park City or Canyons. Three plane tickets to Chicago, from Salt Lake. Three vouchers for unlimited shuttle service to/from the resort, to/from the downtown, and to/from the airport.

As it turned out, one of my dad's bet friends had a vacation house there with 3 bedrooms that he was letting us use for free, and it was less than 10 minutes from the mountain where you skied. I was so freaking excited.

I had assumed that the tickets were for Ella, my mom and myself, but then Jeb somehow managed to make this present 10 times better.

"Your mother already checked and Fang and Iggy's parents were okay with you going out by yourselves, as long as you stick together." My jaw dropped open as his words sunk in. He had bought me and my two best friends, plane tickets and lift tickets to use. Just the three of us. Skiing was one of my favorite things in the world, right after mom's homemade chocolate chip cookies. And Utah was just gorgeous, the sky was always cloudless and bright blue, and the mountains were covered in powdery snow.

Fang and Iggy turned to me eyes wide, and Iggy whooped in excitement.

"We're going to Utah! We're going to Utah!" he chanted, excited as could be. Fang was still staring at me, in shock.

I looked down to see when we were going, if it was a spring break trip, or what the deal was. December 27, 2012. That was in 2 days. Returning January 3, 2013. That meant the three of us would be spending New Years together too. Wow, this is the best day ever. Then something hit me, Gordon. He knew Fang was like a brother to me, Iggy too, but I wasn't sure how he was gonna feel about us going on a vacation ourselves. Just my two best friends and me, who happened to be guys, and I wasn't exactly sure how he would take it. I mean yeah, Gordon's a great guy, and I liked him enough, but he might not feel the same way about this whole situation. But for now, I put that in the back of my mind, and focused on how much fun Fang and I would have.

"Thank you Max's dead!" Iggy crowed leaping over to officially shake Jeb's hand.

"Anytime. Call me Mr. Batchelder," he replied warmly, shaking Iggy's hand.

"Thank you so much Mr. Batchelder. I'll make sure nothing happens to Max while we're there," Fang said quietly looking my dad straight in the eye. He shook his hand as well, and Fang received a small pat on the back, and I could tell that Jeb _really_ approved and liked Fang. But Fang was a great guy, and there's no reason anyone wouldn't approve of him.

I went over, giving each of my parents (see I did it again. I'm really maturing here, wow. I called him a 'parent' and not Jeb. Kudos to me.) a huge hug. Now it was clearly obvious why he had made such a big deal about opening our presents now.

"Oh yeah, Ella open up," Iggy said, nudging Ella. Speaking of nudging, Nudge was coming over later this afternoon and I think Gordon was as well. I would talk to him about this whole Utah deal later, I didn't want to ruin Christmas.

Ella opened her gift from Iggy, and her breath caught in her throat as she pulled out a gorgeous heart necklace. It was silver, and the edges were soft, and rounded under. She noticed a small note attached to the heart. It was a riddle.

"Go ahead, solve the riddle," Iggy hinted.

_THE FIRST NAME OF ACTOR WHO PLAYED ELF: _WILL

_THE OPPOSITE OF ME: _YOU

_DOG BACKWARDS WITHOUT THE 'D': _GO

_NOT IN, BUT: _OUT

_THE MEANING OF 'CONMIGO' IN SPANISH: _WITH ME

I watched smiling slightly as Ella solved the riddle, writing her answers out on the paper. Just as she finished, Iggy asked her out loud.

"Will you go out with me?" he asked. I totally called that they had a 'thing' going on, just saying.

Ella immediately nodded and stood up and gave him a huge hug. She lifted her hair up, and he put the necklace on her, and her face lit up. Fang clapped Iggy on the back, and I gave Ella an excited smile. She blushed and mom was beaming and dad (wow, I did it again.) seemed very approving. Almost as approving as he was of Fang.

"Best. Christmas. Ever." I said sighing, as I went over to sit next to Fang at the table. Iggy had his arm around Ella and they were leaning against the wall, talking quietly. They both kept smiling and I couldn't help wondering what they were up to.

"Not yet Max," Fang replied with a mischievous look in his eye. "Come on." He motioned for me to follow him and I did, along with Iggy and Ella who were following close behind.

There was a huge, bulky object wrapped very awkwardly sitting in the middle of our living room.

"For you," Fang nodded towards the thing and I went over, kneeling down next to it. I unwrapped it very ungracefully, tearing off the paper and my heart stopped once I realized what it was. A guitar. An acoustic guitar. My very own guitar. Ever since I'd joined Fang's band, I'd just been using his old guitar, and he told me I could keep it. But still, it wasn't technically my own, but this one was.

"Oh my gosh," I whispered. I jumped up, and hugged Fang who seemed almost ready for it. Much to my surprise and delight (don't tell anyone I said that), he hugged me back right away. I didn't let go for several seconds, realizing how great everything was right now. I was still unable to believe that he was coming with me (and Iggy too of course). "Fang this is amazing," I breathed. "Thank you."

"Now you can be even better. You have your own guitar, not my old one anymore," he whispered back. I smiled and rested my head on his shoulder the way best friends do. Except we were almost more than best friends. He knew me more than Ella maybe did, despite that I'd been here for only some months. All the time we spent together was really rubbing off on us. Ella wiggled her eyebrows at me and Fang, my arms still wrapped around him. I rolled my eyes at her, I still had a boyfriend.

I finally pulled back, and then Fang showed me the best part. He turned the guitar over, and on the back of the neck (the skinny part where all the strings go) was carved The Flock with a small wing next to it. It was amazing.

"It's from Iggy to," Fang said giving me his cute little lopsided smile.

"Come here Ig," I called with a laugh. I hugged Iggy to, but it wasn't as long or meaningful as the one with Fang. Besides, he was now my sister's boyfriend. Iggy went back to Ella, and they resumed their hand holding and I just rolled my eyes. Lovebirds. Even Gordon and I weren't that romantic. Okay we were nothing near that romantic but whatever.

"Let's go back up to my room. I got something for you up there," I grinned, grabbing Fang's arm with me as I went over to the stairs. He immediately followed and we sat down on my bed, once we were in my room.

I pulled out a box and handed it to Fang. He opened it up, and his eyes lit up, and they twinkled. It was a brand-new dog tag. I'd noticed that his old one was dirty and rusty, and plain. It had minimal words, so I decided to get him a new one. But I'd had words carved into it to. On the front it was a wing, similar to the one now on my guitar, and The Flock was written underneath it. He turned it over, and the back read Fang- Fly on always. You're the best friend I could ask for. –Max He grinned looking up at me.

"Where could you find these? How did you get it carved in like that?" he asked, giving me that one smile I never saw. The one that made the Sun stop in its tracks. The smile I'd seen probably 3 times since I'd known him. I just shrugged, not wanting to give away my secret. Oh, you think I'm gonna tell you how I got it done? Sorry, not happening. He immediately put it, putting the old one in his pocket. Oh, and just saying, if you're trying to buy a dog tag for your best friend, they ain't cheap. Well sure you can buy cheap ones, but this one was about $350 with the carvings and everything.

Then Fang hugged me. Reread that sentence if you need to. You'll probably need to, since I'm assuming almost any rational person read it wrong. Fang hugged me. Like he did it himself, and I didn't have to blackmail or bribe him to do, which was a first. I hugged him back, and was glad he even liked the dog tag idea. It wasn't as long, but still a free hug from Fang was probably one of the best presents I could get. It was also probably enough to make ¾ of the girls at my school shoot daggers out of their eyes to attempt to kill me, just to win a smile from Fang. Well suck on that bitches, because I'd gotten 3 hugs and a real smile in the past few days. Come at me.

I gave the Igster his present too, which was all these new guitar picks and a new strap (which had been needing a replacement sometime soon). He seemed totally excited and kept thanking me for it.

"Calm down, Iggy," I called laughing. "I owed you from that amazing guitar."

Then the doorbell rang and Nudge was inside chatting about everything from what she got for Christmas to cinnamon rolls to going to Florida to work on her bikini body. I don't why she even bothered worrying about all that stuff, since she was just naturally gorgeous.

An hour later, the doorbell rang and Gordon was over too. He gave me a hug right away, and whispered 'Merry Christmas'. He had gotten me a heart necklace, similar to Ella's. It was a little fancier, and had some sparkles. It was beautiful, but it just wasn't me. But I told him I loved it because I'm just a freaking princess when it comes to other people's feelings.

Fang, Gordon and I all hung out while Iggy and Ella spent some "private time" together. Most likely making out, but I'm not judging, just informing. I gave Gordon his gift; it was a new hockey stick. The one he'd picked out and his friends had told me about. He seemed super excited and kept thanking me, kinda like Iggy.

I wondered if it bothered Gordon that Fang and I spent so much time together. More than we did, and he was my boyfriend. I decided I'd talk to him about our trip and everything tomorrow, before we left. But Fang and Iggy stayed for dinner, but Gordon went home. Later that night, Fang and Iggy went home too, so it was down to Ella, Ari, mom, Jeb and me. To my surprise, I found myself sitting next to Jeb on the couch, while the movie was playing.

"Thanks again for the tickets for the plane and skiing," I said for the hundredth time. He just smiled nodding.

"You deserve it sweetie. You've got great friends. I really really like Fang," he whispered, just so I could here.

"Me too," I muttered to myself.

"Just make sure you know who cares about you more," he said leaving me very confused. Did he mean between Fang and Gordon?

"Fang or Gordon?" I asked trying to make sense of his statement.

"Shhh, Ella and your mom are watching this movie," he said and that solidified my guess that he was trying to tell me Fang cared more. How would he know? But then I figured that since he was a guy, he would have the same weird guy thinking and feelings, and I could trust this at least. I feel like Gordon tries too hard with me, and that Fang and I could just be ourselves. I leaned back; convinced that Gordon and I needed to talk. But for some reason that didn't bother me, and I drifted to sleep watching the movie.

**Hey! Here's another chapter, and the FAX is gonna start picking up soonish. Any ideas for FAX or anything else in the story? I need some plot ideas! Thanks! RnR!**


	14. FRESHMAN 13

"Hey, um can we talk Max," Gordon and I were walking around downtown. It was the day after Christmas, but because of the stupid Chicago weather, there was no snow. But lucky me, there would be tons of snow because I was going to Utah! But anyway, back to my current disaster of a social situation. Have I mentioned that I have about zero social skills? Zippo. None.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" I asked trying to remain calm, even though I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"Okay, well I really like you Max," he began. Here we go. How much do you wanna bet that he was gonna say how much he liked me, but that stuff wasn't working out. That's what they always say, but I don't understand why. "I really really like you Max, you know that right? I just feel that if it came down to Fang or me, you'd choose Fang in a heartbeat." He paused, and I realized he was spot on. Depending on circumstances, Fang could come equal or above some family. "I mean, I hate being the bad guy here, and it doesn't bother me that you and Fang are such good friends, but I think you like Fang more than you like me. Don't get me wrong, I still like you but I'm just not sure that we were meant to be more than friends. I think that's more where Fang comes in. He also seems to need you more than I do. He's clearly happier when you're around, and he's been a different person since you've moved here. But I still like you, and I still wanna be friends, is that right? Just be honest, what exactly are you feeling?"

I took a deep breath, and thought about it for a while. "Okay, well I was gonna tell you this today anyway because I didn't think you'd like it, but my dad got tickets for Fang, Iggy and I to go and ski at Utah, and stay with a friend of his. I'm sorry Gordon. I hate doing this to you, but I'm not sure about my feelings for Fang. But I think we, us, are better off as friends. We can still hang out sometime and talk though. It doesn't need to be like most breakups where we erase each other," I replied. I realized this was the right thing to do, especially considering that I had sort of lost my feelings for Gordon.

He nodded, accepting everything. "Thanks for being honest Max. We can always be friends. I think this way is just easier for both of us, and Fang too."

"What do you mean easier for Fang too?" I asked, growing curious.

"He needs you Max. And every second Gordon's with you that takes you away from him. Not necessarily jealousy, but him needing you and not being able to have you is hard on him," he explained.

"He told you this?" I asked confused, pushing a piece of stray hair behind my ear.

"No. But I can tell. We're both guys. I know he's not exactly emotional, and doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve, but I can still tell. The way he acts when you're around, it's just clear to me."

"I'm sorry Gordon. You're still a great guy," I stuttered taking it all in, and he nodded. We were walking through the park now, and he kissed my cheek.

"Bye Max," he said looking at me.

"Bye Gordon. See you around," I replied and we both turned to walk our separate ways. Somehow I knew this was coming, but not in the way I expected. I thought it would be more of him being jealous and angry that I spent more time with Fang than him. But it was almost the opposite. He broke up with me to spare Fang the hurt he would feel if we stayed together. He was really sweet, and it was just cute the way he cared about the people I cared about. I also felt way relieved, and lots of guilt flooded out of me, knowing that I wouldn't be responsible for explaining the Utah trip with Fang to Gordon.

But did Fang really need me? As a friend or as something more? Speaking of something more, I wasn't sure where my current feelings for Fang were at the moment. Yeah, he was still my best friend, and I knew nothing would change that, but that little thrill I had been getting as we hugged, what was that about? Sometimes the way he looked at me, as though he could read my thoughts, sent chills through me. Gave me goose bumps. Maybe I could talk to Iggy about it in Utah.

(-LINE BREAK-)

I opened my mouth a bunch of times, trying to unpop my ears. Unfortunately, Iggy saw me making that oh-so-attractive-fish-out-of-water-face and snickered.

"You're lucky we're still taking off and we can't use electronics. Otherwise I'd have a scrapbook of those hot faces your making," Iggy said imitating me.

"Shut up Ig," I said smirking. "You're lucky I'm bringing you on this trip as it is," I replied jokingly.

"Who else were you gonna bring? Gordon?" I rolled my eyes, but then I decided I would ask Iggy if he knew anything. Fang was sitting next to me on one side, but he was out cold. He looked so calm as he slept, different from his awake self where he seemed tense all the time. Except for those few times when he fully relaxed. Sometimes when he was holding Angel, or that time when we were in the tree talking.

"Gordon and I broke up," I informed him with a slight smirk. Iggy's eyes widened a tiny bit as he gained this knowledge, but he didn't seem surprised. He almost seemed to have known it was coming. "Did you know?"

"Sorta. Well, I knew Gordon from way back when we all started going to the same school. He's always been one of those guys that would put everyone before himself. But Fang's kinda like that too. Except when Gordon realized that Fang was starting to change because of you, and like you; he felt he needed to back off," Iggy explained. I double-checked a few times to make sure that Fang was still asleep, but he was like rock. Solid, steady and unmoving.

"Gordon said that Fang needed me. Well he said it a few times. Is that true or was he just exaggerating to make it seem less awkward and weird? Well as breakups go," I asked curious.

"No. I'm pretty sure he was right about that. Before you came here, Fang was even more closed off and shut out than he is now. Way more. But then he met you, and he's opened up. To everyone. Especially you though. You guys have this level of friendship that he's never had with anyone, nowhere near what we have and I've known him for years. You met him months ago, and already you understand each other on this whole other level. It's a bit weird in some ways, but you guys just like fit together or something. I'm not even sure what it is. It's a lot of the reason why Ella keeps ranting about how you should get together. But that's beside the point." Iggy popped a handful of white tic-tacs in his mouth.

"Yeah. But the problem is I'm not sure how I feel. I mean yeah I love him as a brother. And you too of course, you guys are both like brothers to me, but I don't know if there would be something more?" I responded unwrapping a new piece of gum since mine had long lost its flavor.

"Do you want it to?" Iggy asked. Now that was the golden question. Did I want to have something more with Fang? I mean it wouldn't ruin our friendship. I was sure of that. Nothing could really ruin our friendship, but did I want to go past it?

"I don't know. Does Fang want it to?" I wondered somewhat aloud.

"I think he does more than he'll admit maybe even to himself. I know for a fact he needs you as a friend. That much is crystal clear, but if he needs you more than that would be if he wanted it to. But I'm confident he does want it to move on." Iggy shifted his weight around so he could avoid the Sun. It was early, around 6 or so in the morning, and the Sun was just rising, and we'd had to get to the airport at 4:10 so we could make it through security and baggage checking before our 5:45 flight.

This whole conversation would've been weird if it was anyone but Iggy. We were like brother and sister and could talk about anything. He'd asked my permission on dating Ella, which I thought was really sweet. He was also Fang's best guy friend and knew him longest so it helped me figure out Fang, which was somewhat of a difficult process.

I nodded, but we both noticed Fang stir in his sleep, and we exchanged looks to drop the conversation for now.

I watched as Iggy plugged earphones in and leaned against the window, closing his pale blue eyes. The rising Sun reflected off his shimmery light blond hair. Fang stirred in his sleep some more, and his eyes fluttered open.

"Morning sunshine," I mocked with a grin as he awoke. He smirked, and then sat up fully as he leaned back and stretched. Lucky for us, we were able to be in first-class since my new BFF father had bought us all this great stuff.

"We're going to watch a movie," Fang announced and I nodded, pulling out my laptop with a selection of movies.

"Dark Knight, this is the one you're supposed to pick. Batman Begins. Dark Knight Rises. Pitch Perfect, get ready to get pitch slapped. Elf. Harry Potter 7. Or finally Monsters Inc."

"Dark Knight," Fang said almost immediately. "Best villain of all time."

"Agreed, too bad Heath Ledger died of drug overdose," I replied grabbing a pair of ear buds and popping the DVD in the holder on my laptop. We shared the headphones, watching as the intense movie was underway. Now this was my kinda movie. It was the first 30 seconds and there was already guys with guns.

I know I'm a girl, so I'm supposed to watch like romantic love stories and all that crap, but frankly they're just long and boring, so I stick to action movies as much as possible. Yup, that's me. A little dollop of sunshine, can't you tell? But okay realistically, how many of you suckers watch those love stories because you deeply have affection for the characters? If any of you nodded, I highly doubt that and I wouldn't be surprised if you only watch those movies to see hot guys, acting all gentlemen-y who steal the girl of their dreams. Honestly, I'm pretty sure that the Joker is going to destroy Chicago just because he wanted to, before all the girls in the world instantly meet their dream boys, but that's just my cynical self talking.

Anyway I focused in on the Joker's grand plan to take over Gotham and take down the Batman. Even in this amazing, might I add action paced movie, there were still some stupid lovey dovey scenes between Rachel and Harvey and Rachel and Bruce. But okay, I mean Rachel's seriously gotta make up her mind on who she actually loves because it was really driving me crazy.

3 hours later, our plane touched down in Salt Lake, and we hurried ourselves to the baggage claim, grabbing the few small suitcases we had.

"Now what?" Fang asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, as he did all the time. I swear he had just been with Iggy looking for his other suitcase, but apparently not.

I dug through my little box that held the lift tickets, return plane tickets and the travel vouchers. Shuttle service: to resort- PARK CITY AIRPORT SERVICE. Well now that wasn't too difficult and we scanned the road for a shuttle with the same name. We found it giving our names because my wonderfully rich father had prepaid for our unlimited service throughout Utah basically. We sat down in 3 seats towards the back, and Iggy was almost bouncing up and down in his seat in excitement. I'd known Fang skied, and I heard he was a pretty badass skier, but I didn't know about Iggy.

"Yo Ig, how much have you even skied anyway? Are we gonna have to put you in the magic carpet daycare?" I asked teasingly. He rolled his eyes.

"You wish Max. But I've been skiing with Fang since we were like 8 or something."

"That doesn't mean you're as skilled and good as me," Fang replied with a smirk jokingly.

"Okay well not everyone is just naturally gifted at skiing and singing and like everything in the world, as you are," Iggy replied, but still wearing his happy little smile. "Well except getting a girlfriend that is." He gave me a small little wink out of the corner of his eye, and I wasn't sure if Fang had seen it. Probably though, considering he picked up on almost everything.

"At least the girl I like isn't a year younger than me," Fang joked back. Iggy smiled, probably daydreaming about my crazy little sister or something.

"Don't worry you're not the only single one here," Iggy hinted.

"You and Gordon broke up?" Fang asked obviously surprised. He seemed a little, okay a lot, happy but was trying really hard not to show it.

"Yeah, stuff just wasn't really working out between us. We're still friends though," I explained and I could tell Fang was trying really hard to stay looking neutral.

"That's what they all say," Iggy chimed in. "Oh I really like you, but I just don't wanna have to see you anymore. We can be friends though," Iggy imitated sitting up really straight and pretending to look fancy.

I rolled my eyes, "Yup that's exactly what I said. It was honestly pretty mutual though."

"That's what they all say," Iggy snorted. He was trying to act as though we hadn't had our little heart to heart earlier.

"Aren't you upset Max?" Fang asked the way he cared how I felt.

I shrugged my shoulders, "We're actually gonna be friends though. We're cool." I decided that I was gonna go to sleep so I'd be ready for our first day of kickass skiing.

**FPOV-**

I watched as Max closed her eyes, almost immediately drifting to sleep. Her breathing was steady and quiet, and she looked so peaceful as she slept. "Gordon and Max really broke up, huh?" I mused aloud, not to anyone in particular.

"Yes Romeo, now you have your chance to get Max. Before someone else beats you to it again," Iggy replied not looking up from the magazine he was flipping through.

"Who says I want Max?" I asked, keeping my voice steady.

Iggy looked up. "You've got to be kidding me." I looked up, smirking and he rolled his eyes.

"Maybe I wanna just be friends," I said again. I'd been having a hard time admitting to myself how much I needed Max, let alone Iggy. Besides Iggy would most likely just use it against me.

"Yeah right," Iggy muttered giving me a how-stupid-do-you-think-I-am look. I rolled my eyes finally deciding to give in.

"Okay fine, maybe I like her a little."

"A little?" Iggy gaped.

"Shut up. I'm done having this conversation with you. You're no help," I insisted.

"Look I probably know more than you think…" he trailed off leaving me wondering if he'd had a conversation with Max.

"…and?" I inquired. I wasn't much of a talker and Iggy was lucky I was giving away this much.

"Well," he paused thinking of how to word something, "let's just say Max may be interested."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked clearly frustrated. Why couldn't he just give me a stupid straight out answer? I mean how difficult was that?

He shrugged his shoulders, and I rolled my eyes. What a helpful friend he was. "It just means that maybe you can be the Romeo to her Juliet."

"You're an idiot Ig," I muttered but smirking slightly. If he was telling the truth, then maybe he meant Max and Gordon broke up for more than Max was letting on. But I didn't want to get my hopes up. I plugged headphones into my ears, and closed my eyes letting the music play.

- (LINE BREAK) -MPOV (****assume it's always returning to Max POV unless it says Fang or Iggy)**

As fearless as I am about pretty much everything, I was having a few doubts about this. My doubts are few and far between, I assure you, but on this rare occasion I was having a few doubts. Now if you think that means I'm scared, and just too stubborn to admit it you're 100% wrong. I wasn't scared at all. I'm Max. I don't get scared. Ever. There is a world of difference between having a few doubts and being scared. It wasn't even my idea to begin with, so I could only blame Fang. Well and Iggy of course. When in doubt, blame Iggy, was the motto adopted since I'd moved here. But back to the point. The reason of my few doubts was that we were taking a chairlift up to Jupiter Peak. Jupiter Peak, for those of you losers who can't and don't ski in Utah, is the highest peak of the resort and the only way down from the top is a series of bowls. Trees surround the bowls, and intersperse themselves into the bowls so there is basically no way but through the trees. Sounds incredibly exciting right? My only doubts were the huge cliff that we might possibly have to go over.

I was sitting in between Fang and Iggy on this 3 person chairlift and we all skied off gracefully. It was already our last day of skiing, and the first two days we'd skied some easy double blacks, and a variety of blues and blacks to warm-up. Then we hit the harder runs towards the end of the week. We'd even gone to Canyons, a neighboring ski resort to mix it up. It was awesome there too, and we stayed mostly on one lift called Ninety-Nine 90. It took you up 9990 feet, to the peak which was only 10 feet short of 10,000. See, you can learn stuff by hanging with us! Surprisingly, we were all about the same skill level which was super convenient. Did I mention we all have no fear of crashing, falling or basically anything when it came to skiing? We were set to go, and Iggy took off first and went flying between the BMW sized moguls that lined the mountain. This part wasn't as steep, but the huge bumps made it hard yet insanely fun. I followed Iggy, with Fang close on my tail.

Iggy was pretty fast, but not as fast as Fang. Or me. He seemed to have so much fun when he skied though, and his carefree little smile was always plastered on his face. Fang had such natural talent, it was breathtaking. He was graceful, but quick with his turns and stops. He was honestly beautiful to watch. I'd stopped halfway down by Iggy and I'd let my mouth hang open in awe as he swiftly flew down the hill.

He smirked when he got to us. "Nice drool, Max. Glad to know you think I look good."

Iggy clapped me on the back, "Smooth," he whispered and I just rolled my eyes at them both.

We all took off, and then stopped short when we got to the area where the trees started to fill in more. Iggy went first, narrowly avoiding tree after tree. I followed Iggy, making sure I turned quick enough leaving enough room to spare my arms from getting scraped. I made it through fine, grinning as the adrenaline rushed through me. I had to admit, if I could fly, I'm sure that's what flying would kinda feel like. The way you glide over the snow, and get a great adrenaline rush made me feel like I could fly. It was so incredibly cool. Fang made it out as well, spraying me with snow as he hockey-stopped, and then gracefully falling on his butt.

"Smooth move, Romeo" Iggy said laughing as Fang slid a few more feet due to the steepness of the hill. Fang rolled his eyes, but couldn't help laughing a little. I pulled him back up and we finished the rest of the bowl injury and fall-free. I'm sure you were just so worried. But because we're just a crazy couple of kids, we got back on the lift to do it again. We did a bunch of different double black bowls off this lift until around 3:15, when the lift closed. It got dark here so early; we headed back to the house where we were staying.

"Yo Max, where do you wanna go for dinner?" Fang asked from his spot on the couch.

I was grabbing a sweatshirt from upstairs, and called back, "Let's order a pizza in and watch a movie or something. Not sure how much money we have left to spend on dinners and stuff." The boys both agreed with me, and we had the local pizza place deliver a 16" bacon pizza. As soon as it came, we all sat down in the living room and used paper plates, and stuffed ourselves with pizza.

"That so hit the spot," Iggy crooned, leaning back against the pillow in his recliner.

Fang and I were sitting together on the couch, and our feet were up on the coffee table in front of us.

"What movie would you like?" I asked Iggy, as he flicked through movie choices on Demand.

"21 Jump Street." I put my plate on top of Fang's on the table, as I announced what movie we're going to watch.

"Back to the Max dictatorship it is," Iggy joked and I pretended to glare at him. "Just kidding. This is a Max fantasy."

"That's better," I added and pushed play. But how could you not like 21 Jump Street, it's hilarious and not all girly and gross. Plus, it has Channing Tatum, and even I thought he had a pretty nice looking face. And abs. Just saying.

I settled back into the couch, totally at ease with my two best friends in the whole world, in my favorite place in the whole world, doing what I loved. What more could a girl even ask for?

**FPOV**

We were watching the movie, and Max had started to fall asleep. Her eyes drifted shut, and her head rolled to one side and she laid her head on my shoulder. I was pretty sure she was asleep, but I couldn't be positive. But either way she was curled up against my side. Her head was leaning on my shoulder, and her hand was on my chest. Somehow she had managed to be in a position where she was holding me, but it was pretty gosh darn cute.

Iggy noticed her and mouthed silently across the room, "Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone! I love you and that's all I really know! It's a love story, baby just say yes!" The lyrics to Taylor Swift. I rolled my eyes.

"It's sad that you know Taylor Swift songs. Unless you serenade Ella with them," I whispered back at him and he smirked.

He pointed to Max, "Juliet." Then pointed to me, "Romeo." Then he formed a heart with his hands and pretended to look dreamy and lost in the clouds. Except there were no clouds since it was nighttime, so the affect was kinda lost.

"You. Are. A. Loser." I silently shouted, aka whispered (just trying to change things up here) back to him. He nodded and pretended he was holding an invisible dream girl next to him. I rolled my eyes, and then looked down at Max, and thought about how pretty she looked when she slept. So calm and peaceful and relaxed. It made me smile just thinking about that.

"Well you two lovebirds can stay here, I'm going to sleep," Iggy quietly announced, as not to wake Max. She would probably be so embarrassed if she found out how she was sleeping. I decided to try and carry her up to her room, without waking her. As strong as she is, Max was lighter than I expected. I scooped her up, her legs and upper back in my arms. She hadn't woken so I didn't think she would. I tiptoed across the hardwood floor, and placed her in her bed, after pulling the sheets back. I pulled the covers back up around her, then left to go back to my room. I needed to sleep before our early flight tomorrow. I also had some things to think about. It was Max's birthday in a few weeks, and I had to do something awesome. And I sorta wanted to see if she wanted to like, you know, be more than friends. I'd figure something out, I am Fang after all.

- (LINE BREAK) -

**FPOV (still)**

"Have a nice sleep last night?" Iggy snickered to Max, and I glared at him.

Max looked up from her cereal bowl, confused. "Um it was fine."

I rolled my eyes, but Max was too concentrated on finishing the last of her Cocoa Krispies to notice, but Iggy did and it made him smirk. Thankfully, he decided to drop it after that, and that basically concluded our morning conversations. We were all sitting on the plane, when I decided that Iggy and I would plan Max's party now. But she couldn't know, so I convinced her to watch some movie, as Iggy and I worked things out.

To my relief, she didn't question us at all as Iggy and I bent our heads together trying to come up with something clever to do for Max. Wait, you really think I'm gonna tell you? Not yet, sucker. You can wait just like Max. It'll be a surprise for Max and for you.

**Tha**nks for all the reviews! Keep them coming, you guys have great ideas! Well I'm starting the FAX now, so here you go! It'll be a lot better next chapter I think. R**nR!**


	15. FRESHMAN 14

I realized it was my birthday half way through my shower. Wow, am I stupid or what? I went down stairs and my mom and Ella had made me pancakes and even gotten a Happy Birthday balloon. I laughed, even though it was pretty cheesy.

"Happy Birthday," Fang, of course, said stepping out of the shadows, as only he could manage to do.

"Thanks," I said grinning. Fang was always here and it was great.

"So, I'm taking you down to the city for your birthday," Fang came over and sat next to me at the table. It'd been about 3 weeks or so, since we'd made it back from Utah. It was probably the best week of my life, and I would love to relive it. But from the sounds of what Fang had just announced, this was gonna be another kickass day too.

"Happy birthday sweetie," my mom said kissing the top of my head. "I'm going to work, and I'm dropping Ella off at Nudge's in a few minutes. Sorry we couldn't be here on your birthday."

"It's fine," I replied, I was gonna be with Fang anyway. I was a little surprised that my mom had to work since it was a Saturday, but with her being a vet and all sometimes hours were a little funky. She usually just worked whenever they needed her, which happened to be most of the time.

Fang and I hopped on the train, since he'd bought tickets in advance. "Anyone else coming?" I asked once the conductor had punched our tickets.

"Nope, thought we could spend the day just the two of us," he replied with his lopsided smile.

I grinned, "Sounds good to me." After about 20 minutes, our train pulled to a screeching halt at the final stop in Chicago. We both got off, and I pulled my North Face a little tighter around me as we exited into the chilly February air.

"Let's go slowpoke," Fang teased, gesturing for me to follow him. I wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but he seemed to know. I hadn't been downtown Chicago in forever, since I was little kid visiting here with Jeb and Ella. That seemed like forever ago, even though it was probably only 2 or 3 years. I never would've guessed I'd be walking around with my best friend since I lived only 20 minutes away. We walked around Millennium Park, and had our picture taken at the Bean. He'd casually thrown his arm over my shoulders, so I put my arm around his back, and had some random person take a few pictures while they were standing near us.

"You guys are a really cute couple," the woman told us, handing our phones back to us. Fang smiled and I couldn't help but smile too. We got that so much, even though we were just friends. I changed my wallpaper on my phone to the picture the lady had just taken. My old picture was Fang, Iggy and I all suited up, skies on at the top of Jupiter Peak. Before that it was Gordon and I at homecoming, but we all know how that ended. I noticed Fang's wallpaper was the one that we'd taken at homecoming of just the two of us. He'd never kept any of the pictures of him and Marian, and they hadn't talked since the dance. He changed his wallpaper to match mine, and we continued on.

We kept walking, and it seemed like we were walking towards North Avenue Beach, but I could be wrong. I was a little confused at why we would go to a beach in February considering the water would be freezing. Well it would be pretty I'm sure, but that's about all I could think of.

After about 15 minutes of walking, we approached the entrance to the beach. I was still confused but followed Fang onto the beach. All of a sudden he stopped walking, and my breath caught in my throat as I looked at the sand.

In the sand, there was a heart drawn with my name written in it. It looked like he'd used a stick to carve it into the wet sand. Underneath the heart, was written in the sand: Happy Birthday! You are the greatest person I know. I hope you will consider someone like me. Go out with me? I looked over at Fang, and he was intensely watching me.

"Go out with me?" he asked me quietly, waiting for my reply. I'd been trying to ignore the growing feelings I'd been having since Gordon and I broke up. I felt that I could at least admit them to myself without feeling guilty now that Gordon and I were over.

I instantly nodded, and Fang's face lit up. His eyes sparkled and he did his real smile. You've heard me describe it before, the one that makes the sun stop in its tracks. I'd never seen him, let alone anyone, look so genuinely happy. Especially at just me nodding my head.

He came over, so we were standing really close, "Really Max?"

I nodded again, "How many times do I need to tell you?" I smiled up at him, and his face was still shining.

"Well, this is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me, so quite a few times would be nice," he said chuckling.

I rolled my eyes, "Come on Fang. You don't have to be all cheesy with me. I'm not just gonna leave you."

He widened his eyes, looking innocent, "I'm not. I'm just stating the truth. But really Max, this is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Yeah, I'm sure you said that to all your previous girlfriends too, am I right?" I expected him to agree with me, and then say something else cheesy, but he didn't.

"Oh, I haven't had other girlfriends."

"You've got to be kidding me. Have you looked in a mirror?" I asked, and then realized what I said and blushed.

He just grinned, "Nope. You're the first, and hopefully the last for me too. I've never even liked someone like this before, so congrats. You're the first."

I was really surprised. I mean okay let me just throw this out there, Fang was hot. I'd noticed that right away, but it hadn't really registered until now. And he could sing and play guitar. And he was sweet and the best friend anyone could have. I probably didn't even deserve him.

Then he leaned down, and before either of us knew what was happening, his lips were on mine and we were full out kissing. As his lips moved with mine, every synapse in my brain shorted out. By comparison, this kiss was at least 10 times better than I'd ever had with anyone else. Better than Gordon, and better than Dylan. He slid one hand around my waist, holding me close and one hand cupped my cheek as we kissed. After a few seconds, I remembered I could breathe through my nose too, and that helped. My hands were around his neck, and we were, what's the phrase? Stuck to each other like glue. And I loved every second of it.

I'm not sure how long we stood there kissing, probably not as long as I thought, but he finally pulled away. We both looked at each other in basic awe, realizing how much had just changed between us in the past few minutes. I laughed, looking from his eyes, still shining bright (like a diamond for all you Rihanna fans) to the ground, where the heart and note was still engraved in the sand.

"Best birthday ever," I whispered to Fang, as I leaned against his chest.

"It's not even over yet," he whispered back, something sounding mischievous in his voice.

And then I heard, "SURPRISE!" Almost from out of nowhere, everyone came out smiling, laughing and I even heard a few whistles, which were most likely from Iggy. Iggy, Gazzy, Angel, Nudge, Ella, Ben, Alexis, Colin, Lauren, a few of my other friends and my mom all came out onto the beach.

I heard a variety of voices call out "Happy Birthday!" and I grinned.

"Thanks guys," I exclaimed loudly, and then more quietly to Fang, "You set all this up?"

"Yup. Well with Iggy's help. Oh, and he had to draw that note in the sand. I told him what to write and stuff, but it was the only way without giving the whole surprise effect away," he explained. He still looked happier than I'd ever seen him and it made me so happy. Speaking of happy, I was beyond happy that I was finally Fang's girlfriend. And so far, nothing was awkward at all between us. Well yeah, it'd been like 15 minutes, but wouldn't the first 15 minutes be the most awkward ones?

"Get it Max," I heard a familiar voice call, and I turned and Ella was standing next to me with the biggest smile plastered on her face. She was holding Iggy's hand, who mouthed 'Romeo' at Fang who just rolled his eyes. "Finally!" she squealed with delight motioning to Fang.

I blushed and smiled, "Yeah." It was all I could say to not laugh since I was still so happy and excited.

"Told you that you guys were perfect for each other," she said with a laugh.

"Sure, but it's been 15 minutes," I replied laughing too.

"It'll be at least 15 years Max, trust me. You guys are like soul mates."

I grinned, "You really think so?"

"Of course I do. Why else would I say it? Besides, I'm always right about this kinda stuff. You should just listen to me more," she began, her genuine smile still lighting up her face.

Fang and I were talking to Iggy and Ella, when someone brought a huge stereo system out and started blasting music. Nudge grabbed Ella, who was holding Iggy's hand and they ran out to where the music was playing. Ella and Nudge started dancing, and Iggy the naturally good sport, of course joined in.

Fang put his arm around my shoulder, sending warm tingles through my body. "Thanks," I whispered. "For everything."

"I'd do anything for you Max," he replied with such sincerity I couldn't help but smile. I turned around facing him, and this time it was me that leaned in for the kiss. This one was just as breathtaking as the first, and his hands pulled me to him and then rested at my waist. I never wanted it to end, but then a sweet little voice broke us apart.

"Yay! Max and Fang are together! Happy Birthday!" cried little Angel coming up next to us. I bent down, and gave her a huge hug. She was still one of the most adorable little kids I'd ever seen.

"Thanks Ange," I crooned, still at eye level with her. Then the song changed to a slow song, and everybody danced with someone.

Iggy started it but then everyone else soon chimed in, "Max and Fang. Max and Fang. Max and Fang."

I laughed but then Fang and I started dancing along with everyone. I hadn't realized it but everyone here was dating, except for Fang and me, until today. Iggy and Ella. Nudge and this guy named Blake. Ben and Alexis. Colin and this girl Casey had a thing. Lauren and Kevin. Carrie and Bryan had a thing going too. I was friends with Colin, Ben, Alexis, Lauren and Bryan and they had kinda just brought their dates, as per instructions of Iggy.

We danced for a while, and Fang told me that this was our homecoming, since we didn't actually go together. It was around 4, and the sun was starting to set. Just imagine standing on the beach, at sunset, with waves lapping near your feet (well not really but let's not quibble) and the outline of the city against the horizon in the background. You're with all your friends, and your best friend is now your boyfriend, and it's the best thing you could ever ask for. Explain to me how to top that.

As if reading my thoughts, Fang came over and slipped a hand behind my back, and then leaned over me, kissing me deeply. Everyone clapped, but instead of pulling back as I usually would've, I just closed my eyes and kissed Fang with everything I had. Inhaling his scent, my hands were wrapped around his neck and his hands were holding me up by my back. I hoped my mom wasn't gonna freak out and like not let me and Fang spend time together. I mean I know she totally loved Fang like another son, but would we have to spend less time alone together? I ignored the thought, and just focused on kissing Fang now. My life was unbelievably perfect. The three times we'd kissed so far, had felt incredibly, earth-shatteringly right. I don't know how to explain it if you've never had the feeling, so sucks for you and I guess you'll understand someday. Fang's soft lips were pressed against mine still, and the longest pieces of his dark hair rubbed against my forehead.

I could have stayed kissing Fang like that, on that beach, forever, but I knew this had to end eventually. I pulled back and Iggy applauded, but Ella shoved him. He found her hand, and they entwined their fingers. Fang's eyes still had that sparkle and they shone, despite the Sun setting behind us. He looked right in my eyes, and then smiled. You know the one. Not his goofy lopsided smile, or smirk, but his real smile. The one I love. I grinned back up at him, and I swear I heard someone sigh romantically, unless it was just Iggy again. Probably Iggy.

"Happy Birthday," he breathed one last time.

"Thanks. You made it amazing. I loved everything," I looked up at him. He just seemed so much lighter and happier.

"Anything for you Max," he whispered. Just him standing so close to me sent chills down by spine. I didn't say they were bad chills.

"Birthday sex," Iggy sang with his goofy smile, giving Fang a wink.

"Shove off Iggy," Fang muttered under his breath.

"Boys," Lauren said laughing as she walked by, hand in hand with Kevin. She gave me a wink, then went back to talking with Kevin and Bryan. She was in a few of my classes, pretty smart and really funny. She wasn't someone I'd wanna be with one-on-one, but she was cool enough.

I felt a warm hand, linking their fingers into mine and smiled. Gordon and I had only gone on like 3 real dates, and we kissed maybe once each time, but nothing like what I'd just experienced with Fang. And I'd thought I'd had something more with Dylan, but apparently not. But I was well over him, and Fang was a hundred times better than him. Scratch that, a hundred thousand times better. He was sweeter, cuter, a better singer, better athlete, and no one could be a better friend than him.

We rode the train back with a few other people, some rode home with their parents who worked in the city. Fang and I were sitting on the train and I leaned my head on his shoulder, which happened to be the perfect height. After a few minutes of smoothly rolling over the metal tracks, I was fast asleep, leaning on Fang.

**FPOV**

I was still in shock, and more happy than I'd ever been. In my whole life probably. I had Max. I had to tell it to myself a bunch of times, and I still couldn't believe it. I looked down and Max's brown hair fell over her face as she slept soundly on my shoulder. She was adorable awake or asleep, and I still couldn't grasp the fact she was all mine. I didn't want to wake her, so I just leaned back and put my arm around her, holding her to me.

Just this morning someone was telling us we were a cute couple, and now we actually were. I wondered what it would've been like if she had turned me down. Awkward much? But then I threw that thought out the window, realizing how irrelevant it was.

My mind then wandered onto the 3 amazing times she'd kissed me. They'd felt just so right. I know, I know it sounds weird. Yeah we're 15, but she'd just felt right. I guess I wouldn't even know since I'd told Max the truth that she was my first girlfriend. Sure, I'd liked other girls before but this was different. Even before we were dating. Those last few words kept repeating in my head, and I never wanted it to stop.

Max's eyes fluttered open as the train slowed to a halt when we had finally reached our stop. Still leaning against me, she slanted her glance up to meet my eyes and smiled.

"You're almost as cute awake as you are asleep," I joked. She rolled her eyes but blushed all the same. The only bad thing was that if she ever left me, I'd be so crushed. But that wasn't happening anytime soon so I pushed that thought out of my head.

"We have to go to school tomorrow," Max groaned, still leaning against me. I inwardly groaned, realizing the same thing. I think we both had the same reason to not wanna go tomorrow, we couldn't spend any time together. Well besides passing periods, which are like 6 minutes each.

"I know, but at least we have lunch. And well classes don't count, but passing periods do," I replied with a small smile. I don't really get it, but everyone thinks my normal smile is lopsided. I'll be the first to admit that I don't smile much, but I wouldn't call it lopsided. Just to clear things up for ya.

"That's true. And maybe Lissa will finally back off," she replied giving me a slightly evil little smirk. Great, now my girlfriend was possibly evil. Wonderful. But it was okay, she was way worth it.

I chuckled, "Hopefully. But thanks to you, she's left me more alone this year."

"Wait, so like you mean she's left you alone this year?" Max asked appalled, jolting straight up.

"Well compared to last year yeah. She tried asking me out, and would sit with me and Iggy almost every day for a month until Iggy made her leave. Freaking obnoxious if you ask me," I explained.

"That's gross," Max muttered looking somewhat disgusted.

"Well you sit with Iggy and me every day," I joked. "It can't be _that_ bad."

"You know what I mean," she said pretending to shove me. I grinned and she just rolled her eyes, still smiling. But she was basically spot on when it came to her comment on Lissa. Yeah, sure I mean I didn't mind Lissa as much in the beginning, but once I saw the way she'd throw herself after every guy…it kinda made me lose respect for her. And especially after me, she'd never leave me alone. It got really old, really fast. Especially since I had found around zero attractive features about her, especially after Max had come.

I bet it sucked to be a girl at school now, once Max was here. Even though she didn't try and mostly focused on being avoided by new people, everyone seemed to know her. It was slightly amusing in the beginning, but then it started to make me jealous. Just a little though, since I'm not as much the jealous type. But I'll have to admit I was so jealous of Gordon having Max for Winter Formal. But I was glad she had gone with someone who was sweet like him, but none of that mattered anymore since she was all mine now.

Once we'd walked to Max's house from the station, we both stood on her porch talking since her mom and Ella weren't home. I kissed her goodnight, right? Of course I wanted to kiss her but I didn't wanna freak her out anything. I tried to think back to anything I'd heard, some from Iggy or other guys and friends or movies.

But before I'd had time to even form any concrete thoughts, she leaned in and put her cute little soft lips right on mine. It wasn't one of those long slides in mindlessness as it had been on the beach, but it was still great.I got a little, okay big, thrill every time we kissed. It wasn't long either, but short and sweet and coming from Max. Something I'd gladly taken any day.

"You can't forget to kiss me goodbye," Max laughed and her eyes seemed to shine more than usual. Her eyes always shone when she was happy, but this was even more.

"I could never forget your highness," I pretended to bow, and she just laughed.

"Night Fang. Thanks for everything. This was the best birthday ever." She looked so genuine and serious, I almost blushed. Almost.

"Night Max. I'm glad. And oh, before I forget, happy Valentine's Day too." I gave her one last hug, which sent chills through my body, and then walked back to my house. It'd completely worked out that her birthday was on Valentine's Day so I could tie in the asking her out thing on her birthday and Valentines.

- LINE BREAK -**MPOV**

I woke up this morning thinking that yesterday had been a wonderful, yet unrealistic dream. But as I turned the alarm on my phone off, I saw the picture of Fang and I at the Bean. So everything had been real. Even better. And he'd reminded me that it was Valentine's Day. I'd completely forgot, but that'd made the even better, if that was at all possible.

I dressed for school the next morning, throwing on a pair of jeans and a black V-neck. Nothing too complicated, and added a simple necklace just for kicks. I hadn't bothered to do anything special with my hair, but fortunately it fell in loose natural waves which I just pushed behind my ear. But let's be realistic here, when did I ever do my hair? I threw on my usual hoodie, and slipped into my Toms then grabbed my backpack heading for the door as I heard the knock. Mom was gonna drop Fang and I off at school today since it was strangely cold this morning.

"Hey beautiful," Fang said after I'd let him into the house. I blushed and muttered thanks. "You are Max," he continued, his deep eyes innocent as he pushed a strand of hair out of my face and back behind my ear. Must've slipped out. Stupid hair.

We arrived at school, and Fang walked me to my locker, not that he wouldn't have on a normal day. We leaned against my locker, and I figured the first bell would ring in about 45 seconds or so.

"Well I guess we better go soon. Got math." I pushed the stupid few strands of hair out of my face, that kept falling out from behind my ear.

"Not quite yet," Fang whispered. He quietly slipped his hand behind my back, and I stepped closer as he pulled me to him. He leaned down, tenderly holding my face in his cupped hand. My hands were rested on his black t-shirt (just happened to match, we're not that weird) as his other hand still lay at my waist. I slowly angled my chin so I could kiss him better. I didn't care at all that we were in the middle of the hallway. Most of the people had cleared out to go to class and all of the teachers were gone so it's not like we were gonna get in trouble or something.

As Fang and I kissed, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of red hair turn the corner and then grow larger as she stomped over. Lissa. What a surprise.

"Geez, Fang. This is kinda low, even for you. I mean, like I thought you had standards," none other than The-Red-Head-Poop-Wonder said with an expert hair flip.

I pulled back glaring at Lissa. What the hell was her problem? Couldn't she just live Fang (and me) alone.

"Sorry that's why I never liked you. My standards kinda get in the way sometimes," he replied coolly. I smirked and Lissa's nostrils flared. I couldn't tell what she was madder at, the fact that Fang was finally standing up to her himself, or if it was me that was who he liked. Either way I was so glad that she was getting to him.

"At least…at least…" she stuttered, not being able to come up with something to say. I couldn't help it and I snorted at her face. Yeah that's me, suave Max. I'm mature, couldn't you tell?

"Come on Fang, let's not waste our breath talking to garbage," I replied brushing past her. Fang followed closely, and slipped his hand through mine. Okay I admit, that was kinda mean, but just saying it was totally needed. It was past overdue. We walked into math, still holding hands and we received a few stares and glances but not too much disturbance.

By the time Fang and I had walked home from school, yeah we're some tough cookies walking in that February air, I felt like I was suddenly famous or something. Everyone had found out, one way or another, that Fangster and I were officially a couple. Since we all know that Fang was basically legendary when it came to girls, even upper classman, this news came as a major blow to them. Especially since I was just, well me. In case you hadn't noticed, I had a tendency to make enemies. Lots of them. And it appeared I had just made some more today.

"I've gotta go. See you later, Max," Fang said, placing a kiss on my forehead. He smiled down at me (unfortunately just his typical lopsided smile, which believe me was still great) and gave me a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and thought of all the girls who probably hated my guts right now. All in all it was a pretty successful day.

**Okay well here you go! First FAX chapter! Hope y'all liked it. Sorry it was such a fluffy chapter, but tell me if you want MORE or LESS or what I should add! Thanks! Please RnR on how your first taste of official FAX went! **


	16. SUMMER 1

Time had honestly flown by, and the end of the year was rapidly approaching. That meant summer, which was going to be awesomely spent; especially with Fang. But before that, we also had finals. Finals review had started this week, so we basically had two weeks (including this one) until finals, and then one week of finals, and then summer. Not too far off. Then the best 3 months of my life, would most likely start.

I thought back to right when I'd moved here, not knowing anyone and I remembered how much I hated it, and how hard I tried to stay in St. Louis. I guess there really is a reason for everything to happen. Without the move, I wouldn't have met Fang, or Iggy, or any of the great people here who'd changed my life.

"Yo, Earth to Max…" Iggy waved a hand in front of my face, snapping me out of my deep thoughts. Well deep for me at least. Normally they were food related.

"Huh?" I asked attractively. Sometimes, okay a lot of the time, I wondered what Fang even saw in me since I wasn't exactly lady-like or even presentable sometimes. Or like most of the time.

"We," gesturing to Fang, Colin, Casey and him, "are meeting Ella, Nudge and Blake at the library to study for finals. Care to join us, or are you to busy drooling over Fang?" I blushed, and then realized that was stupid and settled on just rolling my eyes.

"Sure." So we set off to the library which wasn't too far from school. Since Fang and I were taking all the same classes we just brought one book for each subject so we didn't have to carry our entire lockers. Once we got there, we ordered milkshakes from the little café thing, after meeting Ella, Nudge, and Blake and then made our way upstairs to the teen section.

We set up shop in a circle of huge, comfy chairs. Ella and Iggy went off to "go find some books" which I immediately interpreted to making out in the racks between shelves. I'd considered going "to find books with Fang" too, not gonna lie, but then decided that could wait til later. But I had to study, like legit. If I could get a B on math and bio, then I could get As. Thankfully in choir and English and Spanish I needed like a D or something to pass with an A. That's how I roll.

"Hey Max, wanna help me find this book I need for English?" Fang asked casually. Ella and Iggy had just returned looking very pleased with themselves and I confirmed my earlier suspicion. Iggy smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at Fang.

"Get it Max," Colin said giving me a wink. I loved Colin he was hilarious, and I was good friends with him now since it was the end of the year. I rolled my eyes and followed Fang to where he was making his way to a section of empty and secluded little section in the library. I was starting to think we wouldn't be looking for too many books either.

He turned down the row holding the most books as barriers from other people, but I realized all these books were old and decrepit (see, hanging with us you can freshen up your vocab) and pretty much no one would want them. Even like cute, little, old people most likely wouldn't want them. That's how bad they were. But that's besides the point.

I leaned back against one of the bookshelves, and Fang turned to me a little mischievous glint in his eyes. "Find your book yet?" I teased.

"Uh-huh." He walked over towards me. "I just wanted some alone time with you. We haven't had any lately with everything going on." I nodded, and bit my lip with a small smile. He raised his eyebrows and I giggled. Okay, well not exactly giggled, but it was like a girly-version of my laugh, but not giggling cause I find that a somewhat gross and like flirty word. That's not me. I don't giggle.

He pushed the few pieces of hair that continuously fell over my ear no matter what I did, back behind my ear softly. With that, I leaned forward into him, and he held me with his arms as our lips melt. His lips were incredibly soft, but not like gushy and gross or anything. Just perfect. His arms were wrapped around my back, and mine were holding the T-shirt on his shoulders. We tilted our heads, to get a better kissing angle. As I breathed through his nose, the scent of Fang's cologne, which just happened to smell freaking delicious, reached my nose and I smiled under his lips. It was so natural kissing him, and just being with him all the time.

Startled, we jumped a part, as an older woman tapped Fang on the shoulder, "Could you please get that book for me sonny? I'm a little short," she gave a little chuckle as Fang handed the book on the top shelf to her. "Thanks. What a lovely little couple," she said waddling away. Fang looked at me laughing a little, and grabbed my hand. Fingers intertwined, we decided we'd better head back before anyone got too suspicious. Assuming they weren't suspicious already.

We walked back, and they were all starting to get packed up. I check my phone and it was surprisingly already 6:30. Colin winked at me as I grabbed my books and I smirked. I raised my eyebrows at him and Casey and he grinned. He reminded me a little of Iggy sometimes, and he was hilarious.

**-LINE BREAK-**

I was sitting on my laptop in my room, when I heard the doorbell ring. I figured Ella or my mom would grab and since I'm pretty lazy I just stayed where I was perched on my bed. I heard footsteps come up the stairs, and a familiar, attractive looking Fang walked in. I laughed, as I looked him over and he was wearing nice black pants, a white dress shirt with a gray tie.

"Cute socks," I snickered as he looked down at his white ankle socks. He rolled his eyes. I smirked, and he came over and sat on the bed next to me. He slid his arm around me, and he leaned over and kissed my forehead.

"What's the occasion?" I asked a little confused. Was I supposed to look nice too?

"Well, since school is officially over, I think we deserve a proper date," he announced.

I grinned, "Sounds pretty good. I mean, I haven't gone out on a Monday in like a year, and I think I deserve to be a rebel today." He chuckled.

"Well come on then slow poke, get ready." He gestured to my closet.

"So your saying I look ugly?" I joked.

He pretended to think about it for a while. "Well no. I think you always look beautiful, but I'm not so sure what the restaurant would think." I rolled my eyes.

"Well fine. But Ella better work fast if you want the restaurant to let us in." I grinned. "Ella!"

Ella seemed to be getting even better at this whole make-Max-look-somewhat-decent-fast game we liked to play since I refused to dress myself nicely. This time, I was wearing a thick strapped flowy black tank top that went a little ways past my waist. She added a silver infinity necklace she had, with some silver "diamond" earrings. As rich as my dad was, I highly doubted that he would buy Ells diamond earrings. I was wearing a black pencil skirt that had different colors of teal and greens. Basically it was some skirt that Ella had in her closet, along with a million other things, and I had agreed to wear it. She handed me a pair of black sandals and finally I was ready.

"Well Mr. Date Night, where are we going this evening?" I asked raising my eyebrows at him with a slight smirk.

"It's a surprise." He replied being of little help.

"Helpful," I muttered under my breath and he just smirked. We had just started walking uptown, and he slipped his hand into mine. A warm breeze filled the air, and it made my hair blow back as we walked. Not gonna lie, I totally felt like one of those girls in the movies when they get out of the water and their hair blows back in the wind. Yeah, that's what I look like.

We'd reached the uptown area, and were walking down Main Street, when Fang stopped walking, and directed me inside of Buena Vita, this super good Italian restaurant. Fang must've called and gotten a reservation because we were seated right away and it's normally pretty crowded.

"Max," Fang asked from his spot across the table.

"Mhmm," I replied absent-mindedly from behind my huge menu. I could feel him staring at me through my menu, and I put my menu down, a little startled from the intensity of his gaze.

"Remember that first day when we met?" he asked, still staring strong at me.

"Yeah," I answered, somewhat confused as to where he was going with this.

"I fell for you then and there. And I still haven't gotten up," his dark eyes swirled, and the gold specks seemed to almost twinkle. I blushed, and then smiled a little remembering how he had actually fallen over when he crashed into me on the first day of school. "I don't think I'll ever be able to get up," he added sincerely. This was almost unlike him, to be so straightforward and honest. I grinned.

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Around then, our waiter came and we ordered our food.

"That's another thing I love Max. You're just so different from all the other girls, it's a good different. It's perfect." I blushed again, and then smiled. What was with him being all Mr. Romance?

"Not really, but thanks," I replied smiling slightly.

"Are you kidding Max? There's a reason I haven't had a real girlfriend besides you before. Cause I've been waiting for the right person. And she finally came." I had to admit, he was pretty cute when he was all Mr. Romance and cheesy. We got our food pretty soon after that, and ate pretty quickly. Well okay, come on, I mean it's Fang and me, of course we're gonna eat quickly.

Once we were done, he paid in cash and left a tip on the table for our waiter and we walked outside. The temperature had definitely dropped since this afternoon, but it was still warm enough to be outside in shorts and a t-shirt, and I really wasn't that cold. Fang put his arm around me, and I slid mine around his waist.

"You up for ice cream?" he asked, and I couldn't help but think about how perfect this night was, as I nodded yes. I got black cherry and French vanilla, and Fang got Oreo and moose tracks. We went back outside and kept walking down Main Street, while Fang's arm had found its way around my shoulders. His arm sent warmth shooting through me and it felt nice, despite the nice June weather. I heard a rumble, and looked up to the sky as I noticed it had become a darker gray color. We were on our way back to one of our houses, and it hadn't started to rain yet. We walked a few more blocks, until we reached the block where both of our houses were. By the time we had gotten there though it was sprinkling, and as we turned onto the street it began to pour.

I just laughed and span around in the rain, arms out wide. Fang gave me his lopsided smile, and chuckled. We started to cross the street, and he grabbed my hand. Before I tell you what happens, just picture this in your head. It's pouring rain, but it's the perfect temperature outside; it's kinda dark but all the street lamps are on lighting up the street; you're with your best friend and boyfriend holding hands going down the street. Okay, now once you've got that perfect picture in your head, I can go on. Anyways, Fang grabbed my hand, pulling me back to where he was standing in the middle of the street. No cars were coming, and none were anywhere near as I came over to where he was standing. He had an expression of deep intensity in his eyes, and leaned down smashing his mouth to mine. Well, okay not smashing, maybe I'm exaggerating. Fine, he placed his mouth on mine with great energy and spirit. But either way, his lips came crashing onto mine and I instantly wrapped my arms around him. One hand held my face, cupping it tenderly while the other hand was wrapped tightly around my back. He kissed me with a determination, almost a passion, that'd I'd never experienced before. I kissed him back with everything I had. He tilted his head to get a better kissing angle, and I twisted my neck so I could kiss him better. We stayed in the middle of the street, kissing intensely, for I don't even know how long. But I do know it was amazing, and I never wanted to stop. This was almost like a dream. I mean kissing your absolutely perfect boyfriend in the freaking rain. In the summer. After we had ice cream and an awesome dinner. Please explain to me how it could possibly get better than that. Still kissing, he leaned me backwards, so my back was towards the pavement. Finally, after what felt like years, amazing years let me add, he pulled back. We were both breathing heavily, and then we just stared at each other for a second. Neither of us moved, but then I leaned forward and just hugged him, holding on tight. His arms found their way around me too, and he held on with a strong desire. And guess what? It was still raining. I was pretty much in oblivion, and couldn't even process what had happened tonight so far. After I pulled back from our hug, we both just kinda laughed.

Then, out of nowhere, he swept my legs out from under me and picked me up and started walking home. "Fang!" I shrieked. Well a Max-version of shrieking which is not girly at all.

"Yes?" he chuckled.

"Put me down! I'm not some damsel in distress!"

"You seem pretty distressed to me, Max," he replied amused.

"Yeah, yeah you're hilarious," I muttered. He was still carrying me, and walking up the curb towards his house.

"Geez, what have you been eating?" he joked with his typical lopsided grin.

I smirked, "Ice cream."

"Not a surprise," he replied smiling still. We got to his house, and he carried me up the porch and to the door where he just happened to have a key like in his hand and unlocked and opened the door. I guess his family was gone, but he continued to carry me to the basement where he eventually plopped me down on his couch.

"Trust me, I was already swept off my feet from everything tonight, you didn't need to literally carry me," I teased Fang. He raised an eyebrow smirking.

"I'm sure you were Max," still smirking, he went over to the TV to put a movie in. He came back over sitting down next to me on the couch. I leaned up against him, and rested my head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me, and I could hear the faint thump-thump of his heartbeat.

I guess most normal couples, well at least normal girls, would opt for some lovey-dovey romance movie, like the Notebook or something. I mean, yeah I agree that Ryan Reynolds is pretty cute, but still it's a stupid movie. Instead, Fang and I had decided to watch the Dark Knight. My absolute, all-time favorite movie and it was in his top 5. It was probably too bad that I didn't jump or get scared easily so that I could like jump into Fang's arms at the scary parts. But nope, I'm Maximum Ride. That's not me.

We watched the movie, and I almost thought Fang was asleep, with his deep breathing and steady heartbeat. His arms hadn't moved once since he wrapped them around me and I was actually really comfortable. We were both still pretty damp from our walk home in the rain, but now I knew what it was like to get kissed in the rain. It was so worth it. I slanted my gaze form the movie up towards Fang to make sure he hadn't suddenly died on me, but noticed that his eyes were fixed on me, and he had a soft little smile on his face. The more I'd gotten to know him, the more open he'd seemed. When I first met him, he was so much more closed off and almost secretive about himself. He still was, don't get me wrong, but I was just able to kind of crack through his outer layer and see the real him. And it seemed like I was the only one, except for Angel of course, who really knew him and who he wanted to know him.

"What?" I whispered, a small smile approaching my lips.

"I just realized what would happen to me if we ever weren't together. If something ever happened and I could never see you again. That just can't happen," he explain softly, still not breaking his gaze from mine.

"It won't happen." I stated firmly. He smiled, almost from relief, and I leaned my head back against his warm chest. He held me closely, and I turned back to the movie but I couldn't tell if he was focusing on the movie or still me.

He was just perfect. The best part of having him as boyfriend was that he was still my best friend.


	17. SUMMER 2

"Wake up!" Ella called from the hallway outside my room.

"Go away," I called back, burying my face in my pillow trying to block out the bright sun.

"Max! Let's go!" She yelled back, characteristic cheer somehow in her voice, despite the absolutely ridiculous hour in the morning.

"I'm sleeping!" I replied, though the effect was ruined by pillow which now happened to be in my face.

"It's 8:15 Max! Move it lazy butt!" she yelled from her room now.

"8:15?!" I yelled back incredulous. "That's like the middle of the night! Why am I awake?"

"Shit that's hot!" I heard her cry out and drop something, I'm gonna guess a straightener or one of those things that like magically curls your hair, like a Magic Stick. Something like that.

"Ella! Watch your mouth," mom called from the kitchen. Tired of all the yelling, I rolled sideways out of bed, but kept the pillow pressed against my face to prevent my poor little eyes from being burnt out of their sockets by the blinding sun.

"Sorry, it's hot!" she yelled back to my mom. Then to me, "Max, I swear if you're not up I'm going to give you a makeover and paint your nails in your sleep!" Now if that doesn't absolutely horrify you, then I don't what will and I immediately dropped the pillow and ran to the bathroom.

"Blackmail is not nice," I called back to Ella as I managed to take a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Even I had to admit, I looked pretty bad.

"Get in the shower!" Ella yelled probably assuming that I looked like a mess, which let's face it, I did.

I groaned but then hopped in the shower, letting the warm water run over my shoulders.

-LINE BREAK-

"Could someone please tell me where the heck we are going?" I asked for about the millionth time.

"No," Fang replied smirking at me, knowing that answer would drive me crazy. I just rolled my eyes and stared at Iggy, hoping he would cave.

"I refuse to tell you, just because you asked _again_," Iggy replied grinning at Fang. Ughh, I was stuck in the car in between two obnoxious boys that were basically kidnapping me. Ella was in the front seat next to my mom who was driving, and Nudge was in the way back of our van. Of course she was talking, but we all are just so used to it we automatically tune it out.

"Max, calm down. Really. I promise they aren't kidnapping you," my mom added with a chuckle as she turned off the interstate onto some other road. "I wouldn't let your and your sister's boyfriends kidnap you. Let's be reasonable." That wasn't necessarily comforting since I had a feeling she would let them kidnap me in a heartbeat. They were basically like sons to my mom.

"For some reason I highly doubt that," I muttered under my breath as Iggy snickered, knowing I was right.

"OMG! You guys guess what?" Without waiting for answer, Nudge kept chattering away about some online shopping website she was obsessed with. "It's called Wanelo! Like WA for want, NE for need and LO for love and they have hundreds of pairs of boots and all this makeup and hair stuff! And sooo many cute dresses! OMG and it's all like reasonable pricing cause I mean normally everything online is ridiculous! And I'm like how could everyone not absolutely love this website!" She rambled on and on about her online shopping. Unfortunately no one was riding in the back with her to get her to shut up.

Finally, Fang, Iggy and I all turned around at practically the same time, "Nudge!" She blushed and then laughed, and turned to look out the window. I don't know why she wanted to look out the window since all you could see was corn fields. The corn fields were what was making me suspicious about being kidnapped.

After what seemed like a bazillion years, I knew where we were. We pulled into the stretch of cars that was waiting to drop people off. Heck yeah! My summer was no officially complete. Wanna know where we were? My almost favoritest place in like the whole world…Six Flags, Great America! Woohoo! My mom is now officially the best mom ever. No exceptions.

"Alright guys, make sure you stay together and just keep your phones on you. Just call me and I'll be come pick you up," my mom said as we piled out of the car. Altogether, it was Fang and I, Ella and Iggy, and Blake and Nudge.

Much to my surprise and delight, nobody was here. Okay, that's a huge exaggeration but the weather was perfect and the amusement park was not crowded at all.

"Where we going first?" Ella chirped once we'd passed through tickets and security.

"Raging Bull!" I decided just as Fang yelled "Superman!"

We turned to face each other and it reminded me of when we'd first met how we'd always have stare downs to see who would win an argument.

"Raging Bull's better," I told him, standing on my tip toes to be eye level with him.

"Superman's closer. It's not like were not gonna go on either sometime today," Fang reasoned. The sun caught his obsidian eyes, causing the golden specks to shine. Why did he have to be so damn attractive?

"Fine. But only if we ride front row," I finally agreed. He smirked and ran a hand through his dark hair.

Ella reached over, grabbing Iggy's hand and he smiled, blushing a little. I think that it's easier to tell when he blushed since he's so pale. That makes sense, right?

Fang grabbed my hand and we started walking towards Superman. Since today was just my lucky day, there was like no line and we sprinted up to the top and got in the front row of Superman. Ella, Nudge, Iggy and Blake got in the row behind us. The ride went up slowly and as I looked down I laughed seeing all the gum people had spit out right when they'd gotten to the top!

"Aieeee!" I heard the high-pitched screams of Nudge and Ella behind me the entire time even when we weren't going down or anything.

We hopped off the ride, adrenaline rushed and I convinced Fang to take me on Giant Drop. On the way we stopped at V2 which is like a giant U that goes straight up and down. It was freaking awesome.

We got in right away, and Fang and I were sitting side by side in the 4-chair seating, with Iggy and Blake next to us. The girls had been to scared to do this, and I was so excited and actually a little nervous. But I'm Max. I don't get scared. Ever. So this was surprising and nice since I never got scared. We slowly started to go up and my feet were swaying in the breeze, my flipflops growing smaller and smaller as we got higher up in the sky. By the time we'd reached the top I was actually a tiny bit nervous. I mean I love heights, they don't bother me at all but looking down and realizing that I was going to free fall that far was exciting as all get out, but also a little nerveracking. Just a little though. So I grabbed Fang's hand and found it to be sweating a lot, which meant he was more nervous than he showed. He grinned at me, and we heard the click and then the cart dropped and we flew down.

It was a tiny bit terrifying at the beginning but by the time I reached the bottom I was laughing so hard I was hiccupping and could barely breathe. It gave you such an adrenaline rush and I was all shaky once I'd stood up. Ella and Nudge came over and were talking and talking about how dangerous and scary that would be.

Dangerous my ass. I got in line to do it again, dragging Fang with me. Well not dragging, he was as eager to go again as I was.

Once we'd gotten our fill of the Giant Drop, we ran over to that big water ride where you go in a huge round tube with like 8 people and get soaked. It's supposed to be like you're white-water rafting and I've heard it's awesome.

All 6 of us piled into our own raft, and then hurriedly made our way to the entrance of the river where we'd start the ride. Now I'm not exactly a huge water ride fan, but this one was awesome. It was so warm, that I wasn't even mad when I got drenched from head to toe by waves pouring over the sides. My hair was sopping and plastered to my face, and Fang was grinning ear to ear which he normally doesn't do. I mean let's be real here…he's Fang. I heard Ella and Nudge muttering about how they had thankfully worn waterproof makeup so nothing was smearing.

At the end of the ride, we all got off and grabbed our phones and stuff which we'd left in those little cubbies. Yeah I know it's probably unsafe since someone could easily steal them, but it was better than letting them get trashed by the water.

Iggy started snickering, but I had no idea what was so funny. Ella's jaw dropped and Nudge couldn't hide her giggling. Fang was the only one who was good at staying straight faced, and even he had the trace of a smile on his face.

"What?" I asked frustrated.

"Nothing Max, I just really enjoy the color of your bra," Iggy said managing to not laugh saying that.

What…? I looked down and noticed that my entirely white T-shirt and gotten soaked which made it become see-through, providing a nice accent to my bright pink bra I had on underneath.

I muttered a few colorful words under my breath while glaring at Iggy.

"It's not that bad Max, it could be a swimsuit," Nudge tried hopefully. I rolled my eyes knowing that was stretching it.

"Here," Fang said pulling off his own black shirt and handing it to me. I put it on over my wet one and then slid the wet shirt off underneath.

"Thanks Fang," I replied giving him a hug. The little things he did like that were what made him so sweet. He wrapped his arms around me, and I couldn't help but notice how nicely his stomach and chest were toned. Not gonna lie, his abs were pretty nice looking.

"You know, taking a picture would last longer," he teased and I grinned shoving him playfully.

We grabbed lunch from some place in the food court and I scowled, noticing how expensive everything was here. We hit some more rides for a while, until it was about 6 or so and started to get tired. My mom was on her way, but we had time for one more ride.

"Viper!" Nudge called and we all agreed, and set off towards the wooden rollercoaster making an outline against the setting sun in the distance. Of course there still wasn't much of a line so we all hopped in cars, mine of course had me and Fang.

The carts were shaky and unstable as we started making our way up to the top of the ride. Now if you haven't been on the Viper, it's wooden and probably old and it always stops once it gets to the top, before it goes down. I looked to my right, where the sky was pink, purple, orange and blue. A mixture of all the colors melting into each other as the sun set for the night. It was one of the pretties sunsets I'd seen in a while.

Right when the first car reached the top, we slowed down and were positioned near the peak of the coaster. I heard an exciting buzz of voices, and people started to put their hands up to go down. Fang turned to me, leaned in and kissed me sweetly. It wasn't a hot kiss or anything like that, but nice and sweet and his hand moved up to hold my cheek. His other hand found mine, interlacing our fingers as we kissed. It wasn't a long kiss, especially since that was when the ride decided to shoot forward and sent us propelling at full speed down the track. I grinned at Fang, and he smiled back. His signature smile causing his obsidian eyes to sparkle. We got off the ride, and we tried to ignore the giggles from the girls as they talked about how romantic and cute that was. It was pretty sweet though.

We went up to grab one last refill in our huge drink cup before hitting the road.

"Hi, can I get a refill of Dr. Pepper," I asked still smiling from the last ride. The guy working there was probably sixteen or so and gave me a quick smile, flashing his sparkling teeth at me as he got me my drink.

"Of course," he replied with a wink. "You know the park's closing soon…you should stick around and I could take you on a few rides in the dark."

Before I could think of some smartass comment to say back, I heard Fang reply, "Well that would be just wonderful if her boyfriend could come to."

The guy blushed embarrassed and quickly handed me my drink and then turning around, pretending to be busy with something. Fang put his arm around me as we headed out to where our friends were waiting to get in the car to end this perfect day.

I leaned into his chest once we were in the car and his arm fell around me once again. I was still wearing his shirt which smelled just like him, and I breathed it in. I smirked up at him since I still found it funny that he was still shirtless. He just returned his lopsided smile and then turned his gaze out the window. I smiled to myself and closed my eyes, letting myself relax for the rest of the ride home.

**Hi guys! Sorry it's been forever since I've updated this! And sorry that's it's a short chapter too. Please review and let me know what you think about everything! Especially all the FAX, if it's too much! I'll try to update again sooner, and also be sure to check out my other story, The Trust Game which is another Maximum Ride fanfiction! Thanksss! Read and review! **


	18. SUMMER 3

I've never been so scared in my life. You don't even understand. But I don't want to scare all you guys away, so I'll explain the whole night first.

We, Fang and I, were walking around uptown and I licked the ice cream I was holding to make sure it didn't drip onto my shorts. We were walking down the block and every few steps our shoulders would brush each other's. We kept walking since it was getting late and we needed to get back home sorta soon so we started heading in the direction of our houses.

We headed down a back road that was a lot quicker to get to our houses since there weren't really any cars or people this way, but it was safe. It's not like we live in some dark town. That turned out to be one of the biggest understatements ever.

"Come on, let's get back before your mom starts to worry," Fang said with a lopsided smile and grabbed my hand pulling me along with him. I agreed since I didn't want my mom to cut off my time with Fang by staying out to late or something stupid like that.

After we'd walked a few minutes I felt like something was off. But I couldn't tell what. But I soon dismissed the thought thinking that if Fang was with me I couldn't get hurt.

I didn't know I could be that wrong.

One second I was walking next to Fang, who was being uncharacteristically quiet even for him, and the next he had slammed into me, knocking me to the ground.

"What the hell Fang?" I asked a little miffed thinking that he had thought it was a funny joke, but then I realized Fang wasn't laughing. He hadn't moved. He was still lying face down on the pavement. And that was when I noticed the dark red, purple spot on the back of shirt growing larger and larger the longer I stood there.

Oh my god. Someone had been trying to shoot me, and he realized it before jumping in the way and taking the bullet.

I whipped out my phone and dialed 911 without thinking as I bent down to check him out.

"Hi I need to speak with someone immediately. My boyfriend's been shot," I said my voice panicked even as I tried to keep it steady. I heard what I'd said repeated a few times as the information was passed on.

"Yes, I'm almost positive. We're on Michigan Avenue down almost by the train tracks. His name is Fang Ride and I'm Max Martinez." I paused as she told me to hang on. "Yes, it's just us and well he's unconscious and bleeding pretty bad, somewhere on his chest. I'm sorry I really can't tell." I wondered if the lady could tell how frightened I was. Probably, my voice was unusually high and shaky. Now I'm not much of a crier, but I swear if Fang doesn't make it through this, I'm gonna lose it. The lady said she'd be sending people immediately and that sent me a little relief, but not much.

I bent down as I crouched next to Fang who's eyes were closed. I lowered my head over his chest and I thought I heard faint breathing, but I couldn't be sure. I just had to hope the paramedics would make it in time. I started praying to every God I could think of not even knowing if I believed in one or not, but I was desperate.

His long hair fell over part of his eyes and I softly brushed it away with my own hand. As I brushed it away, I noticed his head was scraped as well as a lot of his right arm. The sidewalk was beginning to turn a deep red as the blood continued to seep out of his chest and I wasn't sure if I should take his shirt of or not to see if I could find any holes or anything. I decided against it, but pulled my own jacket off and balled it up and pressed it against his bleeding chest, in an attempt to slow the blood flow. It didn't work too well and my jacket started to turn a dark color as blood soaked through it. I applied as much pressure as I thought he could take and grabbed one of his hands in my other hand and waited like that until the ambulance arrived which was soon after that.

Paramedics jumped out as the ambulance screeched to a stop, lights and siren on full strength. Please be okay Fang, please be okay.

"This is Fang?" one man asked while a few others wheeled out a gurney and I just nodded trying to keep my cool. They lifted him up and I saw the pool of blood he left on the pavement and my stomach and heart both squeezed. Not because I'm squeamish or anything like that but just seeing how much blood the best person in my life had lost…it was scary. Heart-stoppingly scary. I bet when I said today was a bad day, none of you would've ever guessed this.

Once they'd hooked Fang up to a series of IVs and things that I didn't know what they were, they told me to get into the ambulance now and we took off for the hospital. If it didn't involve being around all these people who were injured and possibly dying, I would want to be an ambulance driver. I mean you get to go through all the traffic lights, disregard practically all driving laws and blare those sirens. And be a part of saving someone's life, that too.

"How well do you know Fang?" one of the paramedics who wasn't busy taking care of Fang asked me.

"Really well. He's my best friend and my boyfriend," I admitted and I swear he sighed or did something in like admiration but I really wasn't thinking straight so who knows.

"So you can give me all of his information then, right?" he asked and I nodded and leaned over to help fill out paperwork. I glanced over at Fang's pale face and my heart stopped as I realized there was a chance he might not make it. What if it hit his heart? He could die any second. And that was probably one of the scariest things I'd ever realized in my life. I hurriedly applied myself to filling out paperwork so I wouldn't have to think about things like that.

"Can I call his mom?" I asked quietly once we were getting close to the hospital. The paramedic nodded and agreed that that was a good idea.

I called his house twice and no one answered and got a little nervous. It's okay, I thought, I'm sure they're just out of the house or something. I tried one more time just in case and this time I heard a click as a voice answered. "Hello?" a sweet little voice asked through the phone. No. It was Angel. She loved Fang more than anything in the world. I couldn't tell her what had happened. No one even knew what was happening.

"Hi Angel, it's Max," I replied softly. I swear I could hear her face light up through the phone, she was that adorable.

"Hi Max!" she called happily.

"Can I talk to your mom sweetie? Just real quick, it's kind of important," I asked still on the verge of crying. She quickly agreed and ran off to find her mom.

"Hi Max, Angel said you were looking for me," a warm motherly voice said through the phone and I grimaced. Why did he have such a perfect family?

"Yeah. Actually it's an emergency. Fang got shot and I did my best and no we're in an ambulance," I tried explaining but it came out all mumbled since my voice was all shaky still.

"Wait what? Fang got shot, by a gun?" she asked sounding terribly worried and I heard her swallow and grab the car keys. She shouted to Angel that she needed to go in the basement and watch TV because she had to go somewhere. It sounded like she was running towards the door and I felt awful. It was my fault. Don't you dare say it wasn't my fault.

"Yes. I'm so sorry. We're at the hospital now," I informed her as nurses came rushing out of the hospital to come to Fang's aid. The sun had set long ago leaving a a sliver of a moon with only a few stars which just added to the anxiety of the night.

"I'm on my way. Mike's at a dinner for work, but I'll call him as soon as I can and Angel's in the basement. What even happened Max?" she asked sounding frantic and terrified. That was when I realized that this would not be the first child she'd lose in the past year. Kaylie had passed away last summer and she was young too, just in college with a careless boyfriend. Why was life so unfair for such a good person?

"I'll have Ella or my mom come over and take care of Angel while you're gone." I heard a sigh of relief and knew that must've taken one burden of the many, off her shoulders. "And Fang and I were walking home down Michigan Avenue and all of a sudden Fang shoved me over and then was on the ground. I hadn't realized what had happened until I saw Fang unconscious on the ground. What I think happened was that someone had been trying to shoot me and somehow he had noticed it and then gotten me out of the way but got hit himself. I'm so sorry, I'm with him now." My voice broke at the end and I couldn't go on.

I heard her tense up but breathe out slowly, "Thank you Max. He'll be okay, I promise. And if he's not…" she paused for a while taking in the severity of the situation, "always know that he loved you more than you could know. It's hard to see it, especially on a guy like Fang since he's more closed off, but as his mother I know he loved you from the day he met you." I nodded knowing she couldn't see me, but I couldn't talk. Tears had somehow found their way out of my eyes and were streaming down my face as I walked in silence next to one of the paramedics into the hospital.

"I love him too, no matter what," I replied quietly. She told me she needed to go and I nodded and hung up. I signed one last paper for verifying that I had been a witness to the accident and had to keep wiping my eyes to make sure I didn't get tears on the papers.

"He's a very lucky guy to have a girl like you," the guy who I'd been filling paperwork told me as he walked me to the waiting room where I could wait until they were done with Fang.

I shook my head no, "I'm the lucky one. The reason he got hit was because he jumped in front of a bullet for me." Those words stayed in my head. _Took a bullet for me. Took a bullet for me. _I went over to a chair and sat down, fresh tears falling down my face. I didn't deserve him.

I made sure I kept my promise to Mrs. Ride, and called my mom to send her to over to watch Angel, "Hi mom," I said quietly as she answered with her usual _Hello._

"Hi sweetie, what's up?"

"I can't talk long but I'm at the hospital. Fang got shot taking a bullet for me and he's in the emergency operating room now. I called his mom and told her that you or Ella would watch Angel because she didn't want to bring her. Don't say anything to Ange either," I explained quickly wiping the tears off my face. I don't cry in public. Enough said.

My mom agreed to watch Angel and would let Ella know when she got home. So I curled up on the chair I was sitting in and leaned my head against the wall. Soon enough, a frazzled looking Mrs. Ride came in and sat next to me after giving me a hug.

"It'll be all right Max," she told me quickly sitting down, but looking like she needed to know what was going on with her son. She kept changing positions as we waited and waited, her anxiety getting the best of her. I was tired as all get out, but there was no way I would be able to sleep now. With my best friend and boyfriend behind those heavy white doors, all I could do was hope. I got up and walked around for a little while after I went to the bathroom, and peered into the heavy doors but all I saw was an endless hallway with countless doors filling the walls. I shook my hands out and jumped up and down a few times trying to get out some of my nerves but nothing was working. I knew I wouldn't calm down until I could see Fang, or at least know that he would be okay.

The longer we waited the less sure we got. We never gave up hope, don't get me wrong, I always believe in him but the more we waited the more nervous I got.

After what felt like a million years, the doors swung open and an exhausted looking doctor walked out holding a clipboard with pages all over it. Please let this be Fang's doctor, please let this be Fang's doctor.

"Fang Ride?" he asked, his voice hoarse and I realized that it must be near 2 in the morning. We'd been here for hours and we'd gotten here around 10:30. Molly Ride and I both stood up and I wasn't sure which one of us wanted to see him more.

After we'd found Fang's doctor, the news we would hear would just get worse and worse.

"Can we see him?" his mom asked her voice staying calm. The doctor shook his head no, and my face fell. His face turned grave, and my heart squeezed painfully. This was not looking good at all. "Would you like the good news or bad news first?"

"Good," we both replied in unison.

He sighed, and shifted some papers in his notes. "Well the good news is that he is currently alive." That's it? That's the good news? Oh my gosh. "The bad news is that we aren't sure how he's going to hold up." He paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "We aren't positive he'll make it. Thankfully didn't hit his heart directly but it went close to his heart, shattering a few crucial arteries and veins. If you want we can explain the scientific details, but what's important is that he's lost so much blood and were not sure if he'll live through the implanting of the new arteries and veins. But the surgery we're doing right now is crucial and without it there is no other option except that he will surely die. I'm so sorry. I'll keep you updated," he explained a deep look in his eyes. Oh my god. He might not make it. What did he mean he might not make it. Mrs. Ride stood there stone faced, but then her shield broke and tears poured down her face and the doctor gave her a hug, patting her back. "We'll try our best, we will really will. I can tell how much he means to the two of you." She nodded and stepped back and went to sit in one of the armed chairs.

I stepped back, and my knees practically gave out. A shocking reality hit me. Fang was almost dying. Maybe he was, and I didn't even know. I wouldn't know until it was too late. I sunk onto the floor, and collapsed leaning my head against the wall near Mrs. Ride. They had to save him. They just had to. I don't know if I can live without him. Mrs. Ride has already lost Kaylie, she doesn't deserve to lose another child. He couldn't die. Fang had to live. Fang and dead in the same sentence couldn't happen.

How could I come to care for someone so much in the past year? I cared for him more than anyone else I'd known my whole life. With my mom and sister being the exception. Please don't die Fang. I need you.

I love you Fang.


	19. SUMMER 4

I was still sitting in the same hospital chair 6 hours later, at 8:30. I hadn't really slept, only drifted off a few times to have terrible nightmares about Fang dying and things so horrible I don't even wanna talk about. Mr. Ride had showed up at about 3:30 or so last night (or would that be this morning?) and Mrs. Ride had explained everything to him. He'd given me a hug too, since they were basically like second parents to me. Is it sad that I see Fang's dad more than mine?

I ran to the bathroom to splash some water on my face to wake me up and clean my face a little. I looked up into the mirror and my eyes were slightly bloodshot and had big purpleish bags underneath them. I looked like a mess. Any traces that I had looked nice to go out with Fang were gone and I looked like I hadn't slept in a month. My mom had brought Angel to my house and Ella had let Iggy and Ben and everyone know what had happened. They were gonna wait and see what happened and were planning to visit him but they all knew I'd been here since last night.

Finally at about 12, the same doctor from last night came out still holding his notes and looking even more exhausted now. It was hard to tell if he looked like he was gonna give us good or bad news, and all three of us stood up at the same time eager for anything he could tell us.

As last night he asked if we wanted good or bad news first, and we decided to hear the bad news first and wait for the good news. He sighed, "Well we lost him during the operation," the gray-haired doctor began and I stared at him. What? No. No. No. How did we lose Fang? We can't. No. That was all I could process. No was just repeating itself through my head. I gaped at him. His parents just stood there in shock, his dad putting an arm around his mom. "However, your son is a fighter. He came back after 30 minutes or so. And then, the scarier part was we lost him again. His heart stopped beating, and the blood flow around his body stopped most likely due to the fractured artery and vein. But he pulled through again. He's currently unconscious but he came back twice and everyone thought he would wind up in a coma but he didn't. You are very lucky people, and are truly blessed."

He was alive. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I realized that he had come back. Twice. He died twice last night but came back. If he had survived that he would survive anything. I was convinced of that. Now don't get me wrong, I'm strong. I'm tough. But how could I not cry? Think of it as a trademark of how much I cared.

I looked over and his mom was crying softly into Mike's (Fang's dad) shoulder and he had a warm hand on her back. I Mr. Ride was trying to hide it, but I know I saw a few tears leak out of his eyes.

Something in the doctor's face changed when he saw us all crying over Fang. "The good news is that the surgery was successful and that he made through and is unconscious now. But as of now the surgery will be okay but he will have certain limitations on what he can do anymore when relating to physical activity but we can go over that later. But what's important is that you can see him now if you wish."

I could see him! We all stood patiently as the doctor led us to the back room where Fang was even though I could tell we were all about to go crazy. I'd been here for almost 10 hours and hadn't even seen him yet. No one had.

We all went in at the same time and I almost started crying again when I saw Fang's body looking broken on the hospital cot. His eyes were closed, and he had a few stitches covered by a small bandage on his forehead in the corner, and his chest was being supported by certain bandages and all this stuff as he laid there. An IV drip was attached to his right forearm, but aside from that he looked to be in okay condition. I mean not necessarily good or anything considering he'd lost tons of blood and gone through a major surgery, but he just looked like Fang. I'd even volunteered to give blood but they took a sample and apparently I was the wrong blood type which sucked. I wanted to do anything I could to help him get better.

After a few minutes, I told Fang's parents they could be alone with him and they could take as much time as they needed. After all it was there son and if he'd been my son I would've wanted some time alone. See I'm just great when it comes to caring about other people's feelings.

They stayed in there for about 30 minutes with Fang, and I patiently waited outside making sure they got as much time and privacy as they needed. Once they were done they came out looking incredibly relieved and sad yet happy.

"Thank you Max," they both said, and I really don't even know why they thanked me. I hardly did anything lifesaving.

I went in by myself, and pulled a chair over from the table next to his bed where I sat down. He looked even worse up close, beat up and worn down but he was still Fang. I sat there in silence for a few minutes and then I grabbed his hand and just held it while I sat there. I just sat next to him, holding his hand and listening to the shallow but steady beating of his heart from the monitor. I squeezed his hand a little bit tighter than how I'd been holding it and his heart rate actually sped up a little. Soon it went back down but I smiled as I watched the chart of his heart and I noticed it was becoming less steady.

After about 15 minutes of me sitting there silently just holding his hand and watching him the most amazing thing ever happened. I was leaning over him just listening to him breathing when he stirred a little. Then a few seconds later he stirred a little more. I freaked out and probably had some big goody grin on my face. I just held his hand tighter as his eyes fluttered open for the first time. He wasn't even supposed to have woken up for the rest of the day.

"Doctor!" I called, "He's waking up!" I really didn't want him to like barge in on my first time with Fang awake but I figured it might be a tad important that they know he's up.

I turned back to Fang whose eyes had finally adjusted to the bright hospital lights and white walls of his new room. Once he was fully awake, I leaned down and kissed him right on the lips. It wasn't a hot kiss, it was light and sweet but not deep or anything since I didn't wanna like break him. I mean he was kinda fragile.

Once I pulled back, I saw him look up at me glowing. I wanted to just hug him or something but I was afraid I'd hurt him.

"Hi Max," he said looking straight at me.

"Hi Fang," I paused, "I don't even know what to say. You took that bullet for me and you almost died. You did die. Twice. Thank you." I looked at him to see what he was thinking, but him being Fang it was still impossible to tell.

"Why are you thanking me?" he asked quietly.

"Because you died for me. I mean I would do the same for you in a second, but it's just…I don't know. You're the strongest person I know," I told him and I felt my eyes start to get hot. I couldn't tell if I was gonna cry or not, but before I knew it a single tear had rolled down my cheek.

His face froze, "No Max, don't cry." He looked really upset and I felt so bad that no I was making him upset. He reached his hand up and softly brushed away the few tears on my face. "I love you. All I want is for you to be happy."

"I'm happy as long as you're alive and here with me," I told him. Yeah I know it's cheesy but whatever, it's true. "You had me a little worried," I added with a relieved smile. Thankfully my eyes had dried and I didn't shed any more tears that day. For a while actually. Like I said before, crying's really not my thing.

"You had us all a little worried," the doctor that I'd met twice now said sounding more relaxed than he had before. Fang's parents followed the doctor since they'd all heard me call that he was awake now. Fang' parents were thrilled and each gave him a hug and sat around him.

"Well," the doctor began, "you're going to have to stay here for a few more days and then I can release you to go home. But you won't be able to do heavy physical activity until I give you a date after your next appointment. You may go swimming in 3 weeks after the stitches are out. You're a fighter son; most people wouldn't have gotten a bullet wound that close to the heart and lived to tell about it. It'll make one hell-of-a story though." I decided that I liked this doctor. Fang smiled but it came of as more of a grimace with all the pain he was in.

Once the doctor had left, Fang's parents and I stayed with Fang talking to him until he fell asleep. They called my mom to thank her for watching Angel and she decided to come to the hospital and brought Angel with her.

By the time they'd gotten there, Fang was awake again and talking.

"Fang!" the sweetest voice ever called sounding afraid as she ran over.

"Hi Angel," Fang said softly gathering her up in his arms.

"You'll be okay right?" she asked her bright blue eyes wide and frightened at seeing her strong Fang all broken and in the hospital.

He nodded, reassuring her. "I'll be able to leave in a few days."

Relief flooded her pale face, but she still seemed worried, "Promise?"

He nodded again holding out his pinky for her to pinky promise. It was hard to remember how young she really was and seeing her this upset made her look much younger. "You can thank Max, she kinda saved me," he said sending a wink my way.

I shook my head; it was the opposite, "No. Fang got hurt just to protect me Angel. He risked his life for me, but I know he would do the same for you," I explained throwing an arm around her scrawny little shoulders. She nodded giving me a big smile.

She got up on her tip toes and whispered in my ear, "He really likes you Max. He told me and he's been happier more."

I laughed gently and leaned back to whisper in her ear, "Well I think he might like you more. You'll always be his little girl."

Her face lit up and she whispered one more time, "He can love us the same!" She paused spreading her hands out really far, "This much!"

I grinned down at her cute little face and nodded pleased with her idea. I told her I agreed and she clapped her hands happily. I slanted my gaze over to Fang who seemed completely at ease watching his sister. I could tell she meant the world to him and he would never be able to lose her. He'll always be that one over protective brother. His smooth face seemed lighter and happier just watching her get excited. It was part of that other side to Fang that I rarely saw.

I told Fang's parents that I was gonna stay at the hospital again tonight but that they could go home if they wanted. My mom was still taking care of Angel until Fang could come home or his parents would be home all the time. They gladly took me up on my offer, no matter how much they loved their son they needed to get home and take care of a lot things.

I sat in the chair that was still pulled up next to Fang's bed and I took his hand and just sat there closing my eyes. As I was getting tired, I leaned over and kissed his cheek gently, making sure not to wake him. I finally drifted off into a much needed sleep.

-LINE BREAK-

FPOV

Everything hurt. The pain was mostly in my chest and my head constantly throbbed but I didn't complain. I was lucky to even be alive. They say I died. Twice. But I came back every time. I know this is gonna sound crazy, but it probably would've been better and easier if I'd just died. Well for me at least. A lot faster and less painful. But there were too many people I cared about though and I couldn't die on them. Not Max. Not Angel. Not my parents. They'd already gone through so much.

I looked over and my hand was cradled in one of Max's as she slept. She looked exhausted, and she'd been through a lot.

Max.

Despite all the pain I was in, and the constant medication I would need to take and everything I was going through again, there is no way I would ever considered not doing it. If the same thing happened again I would instantly throw myself between Max and the bullet. I would give my life any day for hers. It didn't occur to me to not take that bullet; it just didn't.

We'd been on our way back to our houses when something just felt off. It was eerily quiet, even for that road, and the wind rustling through the leaves sounded like a warning or something. And just for the record, no I do not have a concussion. I don't know how to explain it. When there's such an imminent threat of danger I can tell, it's as simple as that. I started to pay attention to all the details very closely because I knew no matter what happened I would protect Max. After a few seconds, I noticed a dark man, dressed in all dark clothes on the storetop of the pizza place on our left. The close I looked he seemed to be holding a rifle, or gun or something. Right when I saw him move and take aim, I threw myself tackling Max in the process but then everything went black. And that's pretty much all I remember.

I looked over at her. She was a mess, but she was still stunning. She had some crazy ability to always look pretty no matter where she was or what she was doing. She was stubborn as hell and could be the most annoying person on the face of the Earth but she was Max, and I loved her and all of her stupid, stubborn qualities. She was just…Max.

I pulled her hand a little tighter in to mine and leaned back, and instantly fell asleep from all of this crazy medication I was on.


	20. SUMMER 5

**Hey guys! Thanks for all the reviews, keep them coming! I need more ideas on things to happen in the story! Also, check out my other Fanfiction, the Trust Game! If you want something to happen between characters, just review or message me and I'll try to work it in! Thanks for reading, read and review!**

It'd been a month since Fang had taken that bullet, and he was out of the hospital and pretty much back to normal. That was good, but it sucked that school started in a week. Like seriously, where did the summer go? It feels like yesterday that it was my birthday when Fang asked me out. It feels like we just moved here and I couldn't believe I'd been here a year. I was going to be a sophomore. Geez, where did my life go?

To celebrate Fang being out of the hospital and stitches free we were going to the beach. Fang's and my mom were coming, as well as Ella and Iggy and of course Angel.

Ella came bouncing into my room this lovely morning around 8 to pick out my swimsuit and clothes. Apparently I didn't even have enough talent to pick out a swimsuit.

"Here," Ella called tossing a somewhat skimpy coral swimsuit out of my closet.

"Ella this is a bikini…" I began.

"Yeah I know, that's the point. Put it on, let's go." She had a huge grin on her face, probably from thinking about Iggy shirtless. I rolled my eyes, but agreed and went into my bathroom.

I the bathing suit on, the coral top was a bandeau style and had was actually really cute. The color stood our against my skin and my brown eyes popped. The bottoms were white string tie bottoms and they made me look tan and skinny. For once, I had to thank my sister's taste and skill with fashion. Without her, I would like a total wreck. I grabbed a pair of white shorts and the teal V-neck Ella had left on my bed along with a belt and a pair of black flip flops. I just wanted to be comfortable; it was the beach with Fang. He wouldn't care if I was dressed to impress or if I showed up in sweats. He was just great like that.

I put my hair up in a messy bun, a few strands falling out so I just pushed them behind my ears. Fang, Angel and Mrs. Ride were hanging out in the kitchen with my mom and Ella when I came downstairs. Iggy had just gotten here and was walking through the front door as I hurried down the stairs. Fang and I went outside to go grab beach stuff from the garage.

"Good morning beautiful," he told me with a grin.

I blushed, smiling back. "Hey." He put his arms around me, pulling me into a hug setting the beach stuff to the side. My arms were wrapped around his back, and I leaned into his strong chest. He was wearing a typical Fang shirt, black V-neck. And being Fang, he decided to top it off with the black swimsuit. It had designs in white and silver on it, but no on honestly cares what his swimsuit looks like so I'll just pretend I described for you.

"Are the lovebirds ready for the beach?" my mom asked chuckling as everybody piled outside.

"Absolutely," I replied, still excited. I love the beach. I mean the ocean is way better than a lake but still, this is awesome. Instead of following the typical Chicago-land stereotypes and going to North Avenue beach downtown Chicago which was always crowded, busy and had no waves, we were taking a special trip to Michigan. It was some special beach Fang's mom knew that was right on the border of Michigan and Indiana but had giant waves and never had any people there. It was tricky to get to, but well worth it when we got there.

Ella and Iggy were talking softly in the back, and our moms were chatting it up in the front seat, which left Fang, Angel and I in the middle row. Angel was completely engaged in Despicable Me, which was playing from the DVD player in the car. I watched as she smiled along with the characters and laughed as Gru's evil minions came on screen. Not gonna lie, I totally love that movie. You would need to be heartless to not like that movie. I leaned into Fang who was sitting in the middle on my left. He smiled and I turned to watch our car fly over the pavement. Signs flew by as we made our way down the highway, and out of Illinois and into Indiana.

An hour or so later, we turned down a narrow street surrounded by trees and bushes on both sides. I rolled my window, inhaling the sweet scent of the wilderness. We parked down by the edge of the trees where the dirt turned to sand. A wooden staircase was embedded into a hill which led down to the beach. I felt the sand beneath my toes as Fang and I made our way down the ladder. The waves crashed against the shore and it smelled amazing. Just like they do in movies.

I looked out onto the horizon and it was beautiful. The lake met the sky and two different shades of blue merged into one. Boats lined the lake, most too far out to see except for the outline. The white sand reflected the sun, and a warm breeze whistled in my ears. I saw Angel run down to the beach and start collecting rocks and shells and different leaves to use for her sand castle. Fang's hand found mine, his fingers lacing through mine as we walked down to the beach all the way to the water, letting our feet feel the cool sand run between our toes every time a wave crashed.

We walked back to our spot where we had several towels laid out and Fang dropped my hand, pulling off his shirt, revealing a perfectly toned, tan chest. He winked as he saw me stare at him and I blushed and looked away before taking off my jeans and t-shirt. I had to admit Ella knew how to make me look good.

He was busy helping Angel build a sand castle and I was tired so I just laid down on a towel. I pulled my Aviators down so they covered my eyes and laid perfectly still, letting myself feel amazingly warm from the Sun. The rays beat down hard on me and I could practically feel myself burning. Too bad I don't burn and I just get tan. I closed my eyes perfectly relaxed. I considered looking through a book or magazine then realized there was a problem. I don't read. Not during the school year and certainly not during the summer.

Just as I was becoming tired and decided maybe I would like sleep or something, strong hands scooped me right off the towel.

"Fang!" I shrieked throwing off my sunglasses and glaring up at him. He smirked down at me as he splashed into the water. He kept on carrying me through the water even as it passed his waist. The water splashed up onto me and it was warm and refreshing. I shifted my gaze downwards and the water was crystal clear and I could see perfectly down to the sandy bottom. The sand was soft and smooth under Fang's tanned feet which seemed a shade lighter underwater.

The beach was beautiful and I realized how happy I was here. I had everything I could've asked for. I sighed and smiled to myself, looking out at the horizon where the water turned darker and met with the cloudless sky.

All of a sudden, I was dunked under water into the calm world below the air. I opened my eyes and was surprised at how easily I could see. I reached down, feeling the smooth sand letting it fall between my fingers. I resurfaced and saw Fang watching me with a small smile etched on his perfect face.

"What?" I asked suddenly a little defensive.

"Nothing," he replied, still with a small smile.

"What's so funny?" I asked wondering if I should be embarrassed.

"You're just so cute. You're 15 and you're just sitting at the bottom of Lake Michigan playing with the sand. You're just awesome," he explained with his lopsided smile. I laughed.

"Okay Mr. I'm-Too-Cool-To-Have-Fun-In-Lakes, I'm sorry I didn't grow up right next to Lake Michigan. Not my fault I didn't have the luxury of playing with sand when I was five," I told him with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes, "Alright Max, whatever you say."

One reason we get along so well is that whenever I'm having a moment where I just do whatever I feel like, Fang lets me do it and doesn't make fun of me or laugh or be a jerk.

"Can we go farther out?" I asked, sounding like a 5 year old.

He grinned and nodded, "Sandbar right out there." He pointed to a strip of sand that seemed to go all the way in both directions and seemed a lighter color blue there. That means its shallow right? Cause the sun has less space to travel so it goes all the way to the bottom and hits the sand. That's why the waters warmer in shallow spots. See, it's summer and you learned something just by hanging out with me. You're welcome.

We swam/walked over to the sandbar and I was surprised at how shallow the water got. The water came down to my knees which was so cool.

"Cool huh?" Fang asked as he walked up beside me. I nodded in agreement. It was quiet for a moment and we just stared at the lake, the sun casting perfect shadows against the boats and trees lining the lake.

He slipped his hand into mine as we stood in a comfortable silence, our backs warmed by the sun. It was quiet. Calm and peaceful. I wished I could live on the beach.

Fang turned to me, and I thought he was going to say something but instead he leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. I knew everyone was probably watching us but I didn't care. I closed my eyes and let myself feel vulnerable. I wrapped my arms around his waist and he pulled me closer. One of his hands cupped my face as our lips moved in unison. I just felt so right with him. I just felt whole and happy. You probably think I'm crazy but wait til you have the same moment with someone. You'll know it when it happens.

I pulled away breathing in deeply. I leaned into his chest, and his arms wrapped around me holding me against him. He smelled good, a mix of his cologne and sand which smells a lot better than it sounds.

After a few minutes of just standing there with him I turned and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the deep water with me. We made a splash as we went underwater but I turned around to face him and grinned. I poked his chest and he opened up his eyes with a smirk. I flipped around and then started wondering what it would be like to kiss under water. If it would even work. I get easily distracted as you can probably tell.

After a while of swimming and messing around in the waves Fang and I made our way to shore. We'd drifted a long way to the right of where we'd started off, as well as gotten a lot deeper. The tide was crazy and seemed to tug us in different directions. We finally made our way back to the beach. We headed back to where our towels were set up with a variety of foods. We walked on the wet sand, our feet sinking in, sand sliding between our toes. It's one of the best feelings in the world, I kid you not.

Fang and I grabbed some food and decided to go for a walk and eat. It was easier to talk away from everybody otherwise we just got teased.

I turned towards Fang, serious, "Does it hurt?"

"What?" he asked and then realized my gaze at his chest. Specifically his heart. The small section of skin was lighter than the rest, oddly shaped just to the right of his heart.

"Your scar," I said trailing off.

He shrugged. "Sometimes." Real helpful Fang. Honestly, would it kill him to speak in full sentences all the time?

"Thank you," I said suddenly remembering how it was all my fault. A lump formed in my throat and I stared at his scar, thinking about how I messed everything up. I caused him to get hurt and be in the hospital and ruin his summer. I put him through so much pain. It struck some of his main arteries and veins and he died twice. They brought him back from the dead twice and I couldn't even imagine how strong the pain must have been.

"Don't thank me," he said his voice rough. "It was nothing."

I looked him straight in the eye. I melted in his gaze, fierce and strong, all of his emotions hidden behind his dark obsidian eyes. They were a mask, hiding everything he didn't want on display. "It wasn't nothing Fang. You died twice. For me. Because of me. It's obviously my fault," I began, spitting out more words than I wanted to.

His eyes widened, "It's not your fault," he said. He looked frustrated. Almost angry and sad. I wasn't totally sure why, but I hated seeing him upset.

"Don't lie to me," I said immediately.

He sighed. "Nothing's your fault, okay? I jumped in front of the bullet myself because I wanted to. It's my fault if anything. Promise me you won't ever think it's your fault again?"

"I don't know," he raised his eyebrows at my indistinct response. "Okay fine, whatever you say," I told him irritated. Why couldn't he just accept that it was my fault and accept my apologies. He was so stubborn. Almost as stubborn as me.

I rolled my eyes but drifted into silence knowing I had no leverage on this. He sighed, "I could never let anything hurt you. I just physically and mentally can't. I just didn't think twice about saving you. It didn't occur to me."

I blushed and I felt my eyes get hot, "You know I would do that for you too."

We kept walking, away from everything. All of our problems. Our feet sunk into wet sand and water splashed up to our ankles.

It's funny how quickly you can come to care for someone. I'd known Fang for what, like a year now? He was the most important person in the world to me. He was my boyfriend, and more importantly best friend. He was all I could ever ask for. I got so lucky to be able to meet him.

It's funny how much I dreaded coming here. Now it's the best thing that's ever happened.

It's funny how I hardly missed my old life.

It's just funny how life works.

It's funny how quickly I could lose everything. In the blink of an eye. And that's why I make sure I never take anything for granted.


End file.
